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RAINBOW ISLAND 


BOOKS 

BY 

EDNA A. BROWN 


Cloth. Illustrated. 

Price per volume Net $1.50. 

FOUR GORDONS </ 
UNCLE DAVID’S BOYS 
WHEN MAX CAME V 
ARNOLD’S LITTLE BROTHER 
ARCHER AND THE “PROPHET” 
THE SPANISH CHEST 
AT THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE 
RAINBOW ISLAND 


LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 





“Aren’t you afraid of the submarine?” inquired Oliver 

Page 225. 



Rainbow Island 


By 

EDNA A. BROWN 


ILLUSTRATED BT 

JOHN GOSS 



j 

BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 





















Chief Characters in the Story 


Cousin Angelica, who believes in “ Votes 
for Women.” 

Oliver, who wants to be patriotic. 
Rosamond, a rather nice little sister . 

Mr. Armes, who paints pictures. 

Cap’n Mitch, who sails the “Shark.” 
Ensign Wilbur, who likes fudge. 

Maria Joe, who starches her husband's 
flannel shirts. 

Pearl, a skilful , but gloomy cook. 

Tony, a “ proud-like ” dog. 

One Sculpin. 

One Dog-Fish. 

Five Lobsters. 

Numerous Snails. 



Contents 


I. In Which Rosamond Meets Mr. 

Armes 13 

II. In Which Oliver Visits Cap’n Mitch 27 

III. In Which Rosamond Explores Rain- 

bow 36 

IV. In Which Angelica Takes a Walk . 50 

V. In Which Oliver Sees a Light . 59 

VI. In Which There is a Picnic on 

Pumpkin 69 

VII. In Which Oliver Asks a Question . 88 

VIII. In Which Mishannock Becomes 

Famous 97 

IX. In Which Ensign Wilbur Appears . no 

X. In Which Angelica Meets a Man . 126 

XI. In Which Oliver Goes Fishing . 140 

XII. In Which Rosamond Buys Ginger Ale i 5 3 

XIII. In Which Angelica Attends Church 169 

XIV. In Which Jack Comes to Dinner . 181 

XV. In Which Rosamond Finds a Box . 194 

XVI. In Which Mr. Armes Takes a Drive 206 
9 


IO CONTENTS 

XVII. In Which Cap’n Mitch Mends a Net 222 
XVIII. In Which Oliver Camps on Rainbow 233 

XIX. In Which Oliver Speaks His Mind . 247 

XX. In Which Somebody is Surprised . 262 

XXI. In Which There is Something to 

Remember 273 


Illustrations 


“Aren’t you afraid of the submarine?” in- 
quired Oliver (page 225) . . . Frontispiece 




FACING PAGE 

Mr. Armes took the offered paper and read it 

aloud: “B — 45, D — L, P — E” . . 92 1/ 


“ Jack, something queer is going on at Mishan- 

nock ” 1 16 


Angelica clutched him firmly, devoutly hoping 
that nobody saw this ignominious rescue 

To Rosamond’s surprise, a dancing flame in- 
stantly spread over the surface of the 
tin cover ..... 

“ How did you happen to be there at two in 
the morning?” .... 


184 


202 

/ 

268 


11 



APR 24 1919 


RAINBOW ISLAND 

CHAPTER I 

IN WHICH ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 

Looking back on the events of the summer, 
Rosamond always declared that they would never 
have happened, had she not chanced, the very 
first morning at Mishannock, to step on a sculpin 
while wading the salt-water creek. 

Now a sculpin is an unpleasant fish to look at, 
a very useless one to catch, and a shivery, prickly 
object to feel under a bare foot. With a little 
shriek, Rosamond promptly sat down in the cold 
water of the Maine seacoast, wetting herself to 
her neck. 

Oliver, who had suggested their wading, of- 
fered her no sympathy, scoffed at her plight, and 
crossing the creek in safety, began exploring the 
marshy meadow beyond. There was nothing for 
Rosamond to do but return to the house for dry 
13 


H 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


clothes. And because her stepping on the scul- 
pin led directly to her acquaintance with Mr. 
Armes, she ever after associated the fish with the 
curious happenings of the summer. 

The previous evening had witnessed the fam- 
ily’s arrival in an automobile, traversing the 
country road during the long June twilight. At 
the wheel Cousin Angelica wrestled manfully 
with levers and gears as the machine twisted 
over the bumps of the lane, little more than a 
path. Cousin Angelica was silent. 

Beside her sat Oliver junior, thin, pale, and 
decidedly cross. At present, Oliver also was 
silent. In the tonneau, jammed with suit-cases, 
numerous provisions and packages, sat Rosa- 
mond, tired by the long drive from Boston, and 
beside her, the cook, who was dark in eyes and 
hair, and rejoiced in the name of Pearl. 

Rosamond and Pearl were silent also; Rosa- 
mond, because for the past five miles, nobody had 
paid the least attention to anything she said, a 
neglect perhaps not to wonder at, since Rosa- 
mond had talked almost without stopping for 
some hours. Pearl was silent because she saw 
no reason for speech. She had agreed to go with 
Miss Angel and the children and “ do ” for them 


ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 1 5 

during the summer, but she anticipated no en- 
joyment from the months, and would lift her 
eyes to see no pleasure in the prospect. Stern 
duty was bringing Pearl to Mishannock, duty 
tempered by a strong affection for Oliver the 
less, who needed nourishing food after a some- 
what severe illness, such food as Pearl was con- 
vinced she alone could prepare for him. And 
so the party mutely bumped their way to the 
house on the sea-shore. As the car stopped, 
Rosamond burst into praise, but Oliver stood 
up in the machine to glare critically about him. 

The cottage, originally an old farmhouse, lay 
on the wind-swept point, extending directly into 
the open ocean. Wild roses crowded pink 
against the protecting rocks of the gray sea-wall, 
a tide-water creek lay at one side, and in front, 
gulls wheeled lazily above a calm sea that 
stretched blue to distant horizons. Oliver sur- 
veyed the entire landscape only to condemn 
everything in one comprehensive statement of 
scorn. , 

“ Low tide ! ” he said. 

Next morning it was again low tide when the 
two went out after breakfast and attempted to 
wade the creek, where Rosamond encountered 


i6 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


her sculpin and met with her involuntary duck- 
ing. By the time she was dressed in dry gar- 
ments, what use to look for Oliver, doubtless half 
a mile off? Cousin Angelica, absorbed in a sheaf 
of loose papers, was deaf and blind to all about 
her, so with a sigh, Rosamond wandered out into 
the morning. 

The sun was obscured by a light haze, temper- 
ing its heat and shedding a curious half light 
on the shore. Rosamond cast a disdainful glance 
at the scene of her late fall, for the creek was 
absolutely bare and the tide receding to even 
more distant horizons. A tumble now would 
have done little damage. 

Rosamond climbed the protecting sea-wall, 
separating the lawn from the rocks, and stopped 
in surprise. About twenty feet below sat a 
stranger, a gentleman, busily engaged in paint- 
ing. With his back toward his unsuspected 
visitor, he was intent upon an artist’s block, 
where was growing a sketch that seemed charm- 
ing even to Rosamond’s inexperienced eyes. 
She settled herself noiselessly on the wall to 
watch. 

The stranger was painting in water-color, 
dipping his brush into a small bottle balanced 


ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 17 

on a stone, and casting quick glances at the scene 
he was transferring to paper. In fascination, 
Rosamond saw rocks grow under skilful touches, 
the little boat in the distance appear in its proper 
place, the shimmer of the ocean glow on the 
sketch. Then, all in an instant, the artist upset 
his water-bottle. 

Rosamond heard his slight exclamation at the 
accident. Sliding from the wall, she cautiously 
crept over the rough rocks. “ I’ll get some 
more,” she said promptly. 

“ I thank you,” said the artist, lifting a pair 
of dark eyes and raising his cap as he spoke. “ I 
can use sea water if I have to, but the fresh is 
much better. It will not be an inconvenience? ” 

“ Not a bit,” replied Rosamond. “ I have only 
to run into the house here.” 

The artist looked surprised but said nothing 
until Rosamond returned with the refilled bottle. 
He thanked her with grave politeness. 

“Do you mind if I watch you paint?” she 
asked shyly. 

“ Not in the least. Sit down and watch as long 
as you choose. I am quite used to having people 
look over my shoulder. The only thing I object 
to is their breathing in my ears.” 


i8 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ Yes, I know it tickles,” laughed Rosamond, 
as she took a good look at this accommodating 
acquaintance. He was tall, thin, dark, and 
seemed either ill or sad, perhaps both. Across 
one cheek was a scar, not long healed, and the 
left hand, holding the block, was disfigured as 
from a severe burn. 

“ Did you say you were staying in the house 
here on the point? ” he asked after a moment. 

“ Yes,” said Rosamond. “ We came last night 
and the tide was low. It is low again this morn- 
ing, so I don’t know how it will look at high 
water.” 

“ It’s curious,” observed the stranger thought- 
fully. “ I’ve noticed that I always reach a new 
place at low tide. I have been here some weeks 
though, so I’ll testify that the tide will come 
when it is ready. Are you here for the summer?” 

“ Yes, I expect so. Oliver was ill, — Oliver is 
my brother. He is fifteen and he was crazy be- 
cause he was just too young to go to an agri- 
cultural camp and do war work in farming. 
And then he wanted to hire out to a farmer, but 
the doctor said he mustn’t. He wasn’t even per- 
mitted to go to a boys’ camp, one where they have 
just fun, you know. Father’s doing work in 


ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 19 

France, and Mother’s running the hostess house 
at Camp Sheridan, and so they sent us, Oliver 
and me, down here with Cousin Angelica. My 
father bought this house just before the war and 
fixed it all over, but this is the first time we 
ever came.” 

“Oh,” said the artist, “your father? Then 
your name is ? ” 

“I’m Rosamond Jarvis. Cousin Angelica’s 
name is Newton, and she’s very busy making a 
Red Cross calendar and Oliver and I don’t think 
she is going to be much use to us because she has 
it at the table when she eats, and we think she 
takes it to bed with her, though we haven’t found 
out for sure.” 

The artist laughed, a pleasant laugh that for 
a moment took the sadness from his face and 
made him look quite boyish. 

“ My name is Armes, John Armes,” he said in 
a friendly way. “ I am staying at a fisherman’s 
house over in the cove and if you are to be here 
all summer, we may likely meet each other rather 
often, Miss Rosamond. And how do you like 
Mishannock? ” 

“ Pretty well, except for the low tide. Only it 
seems lonely. I don’t know how Cousin Angel 


20 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


will get along, for she has to be near a public 
library on account of the calendar. I expect she 
will drive the machine to the nearest town ’most 
every day. We have a cook but she doesn’t like 
to talk. And Oliver didn’t want to come here 
and he’s rather hard to get on with just now.” 

“ People who have been ill often are,” agreed 
Mr. Armes in a sympathetic manner. “ Oliver 
will soon feel stronger at Mishannock. It’s a 
wonderful place for making people well and 
rested. This wind from the sea ” 

He stopped to sniff appreciatively. “ Noth- 
ing like it ! ” he repeated. “And there are beauti- 
ful walks in the woods. Perhaps you and your 
brother would like to know sometime where the 
trails begin.” 

“ I should, very much. I adore tramping, only 
I can’t always keep up with Oliver. He has such 
long legs. I think it is beautiful here. I love 
the woods behind, and this bare space going down 
to the sea, and over in the creek the fish-houses 
and the cottages where the fishermen live. But, 
if you’ve been here a long time, perhaps you 
can tell me the names of the islands. What is 
the one with the lighthouse? ” 

“ It is called Morgan Island, and the light is 


ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 21 


Mishannock light. It is a rather important 
beacon, though its lantern isn’t very powerful, 
only fourth-class, I believe. But this is a promi- 
nent part of the coast, with deep water quite 
near, so that big boats pass where they need a 
shaft of warning. The harbor beyond the light- 
house, at Love joy, is a very safe one, and Love joy 
has a big fishing-fleet. The lighthouse is needed. 

“ This small rocky island at your left is 
known as Pumpkin, from its shape, I suppose. 
At high tide only the part covered with grass 
is above water. Captain Kidd is reported to 
have buried treasure there.” 

“Do you think any one has found it?” de- 
manded Rosamond. 

Mr. Armes gave her an amused glance. This 
slender little girl of twelve, with her appealing 
eyes and flaxen hair, seemed a pleasant com- 
panion for an idle hour. 

“ Oh, I should say not. There’s a place where 
people have been digging, but I feel sure it was 
not the right spot, for a little farther on they 
tried again, in a hole half as deep. I’ve always 
thought that pirates concealed gold and jewels 
at low tide in holes in the rocks. It never seemed 
worth while to dig. 


22 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“It's possible to row over when the sea is 
calm,” he added, seeing Rosamond’s blue eyes 
still bent wonderingly on Pumpkin’s piled rocks. 
“You and your brother can easily visit it for 
yourselves.” 

“ I think Oliver will like to. But what is the 
name of the island across the creek, the one with 
the house ’way out at the end? Who lives 
there? ” 

“That is the most interesting island around 
Mishannock,” replied Mr. Armes, looking in the 
direction indicated. “ It is the largest one, and 
it has that fine grove of trees and the house on 
the point. Its Indian name is very pretty, 
Quannacut, but everybody calls it Rainbow 
Island.” 

“ That is pretty, too,” said Rosamond. 

“ Quannacut means Rainbow, I am told, but 
I’ve noticed in one or two showers when the sun 
shone through the rain that the end of the bow 
rested on that island. Perhaps there may also 
be buried treasure there.” 

Rosamond mused over this for a moment. “ I 
don’t believe in fairy tales any longer,” she an- 
nounced skeptically. “ When I was quite a 
little girl, I dug up the end of a rainbow, and 


ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 23 

when I got it dug, it wasn’t there at all. Who 
lives in the house? ” 

“Nobody,” said Mr. Armes. “Nobody ever 
has lived there.” 

“Why not?” asked Rosamond with simple 
directness. “ It looks like a very nice house.” 

“ So it is. It was built about fifteen years 
ago, but there is no water on Rainbow. Its 
builder had an artesian well driven, but though 
they sunk a shaft in three places, the water 
every time tasted salt. Usually, even on an 
island, they can reach fresh water by boring, but 
this proved one of the few exceptions. So the 
house was useless. He couldn’t live there and 
he couldn’t rent it, for it was out of the question 
to carry water from Mishannock to supply the 
needs of a household. You see, or rather, you 
will see, that while now you can cross to Rain- 
bow almost dry-shod, at high tide there will be 
nine feet of water in the channel. The house is 
going to ruin, for little care has been taken 
of it.” 

Rosamond looked across the creek to Rainbow 
Island, rising green above its exposed beach and 
rocks. At the far end stood the house in ques- 
tion, a two-story building of some size and very 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


24 

pleasing architecture, its southern side and roof 
now partially overgrown with woodbine, which 
at that distance showed as a green mass. Some- 
thing in its isolated situation and the fact that 
no one had ever lived there, touched Rosamond’s 
imagination. She made a sudden resolve to visit 
the lonely house on Rainbow. 

While she sat planning this expedition, a 
friendly furry black spaniel came rushing over 
the rocks in a sudden scramble, to bestow an 
impetuous lick of his tongue first upon Mr. 
Armes and then upon Rosamond. 

“Is he your dog?” she asked. “I saw him 
on the shore this morning. What is his 
name? ” 

“ Yes, he is mine,” replied the artist, who was 
packing his painting traps as if about to leave. 
“ I found him in a little village in Nova Scotia 
before coming here. I named him for the two 
old fishermen who sold him to me, and for his 
native place. He is called Tony Orlando Cape 
Porpoise, but he answers to just Tony.” 

Rosamond laughed at this pretentious name, 
and hugged the responsive Tony. “Cousin Angel 
will like him,” she said. “ She adores dogs, and 
says they know much more than men. She be- 


ROSAMOND MEETS MR. ARMES 25 

lieves in votes for women, and walks in all the 
parades and sometimes she stands up on the back 
seat of the automobile and makes speeches, but 
Father doesn’t like it very much when she does 
that. 

“ Cousin Angel lives with us, you see, so we 
are quite used to her. She thinks that woman 
suffrage is one of the most important things even 
now, as important as any work to win the war. 
Before she began the calendar, she was writing 
things to send to congressmen.” 

“With all proper respect,” said Mr. Armes, 
“may I inquire the approximate age of your 
cousin Angelica? ” 

“ Oh, she’s frightfully old,” replied Rosamond 
frankly, “ as much as twenty-five or six, I should 
think, and she doesn’t like men. She hasn’t any 
use for them, except Father. Yes, she likes 
Oliver, too, but she says she won’t when he grows 
older.” 

“I should enjoy meeting your cousin,” re- 
marked Mr. Armes as he rose to go. “ It sounds 
as though she would be an interesting acquaint- 
ance.” 

“ She’s interesting, all right,” admitted Rosa- 
mond with conviction, “ and you’d like to meet 


26 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


her anyway. You will probably want to paint 
her picture, for she’s the prettiest person you 
ever saw.” 


CHAPTER II 


IN WHICH OLIVER VISITS CAP'N MITCH 

After wading the creek and stepping gingerly 
through the tall marsh grass of the meadow, 
Oliver found himself near the little settlement 
of cottages. 

In every direction stood gray fish-houses, 
elevated on tall uprights above the creek bed. 
At flood tide, the water would discreetly lap their 
thresholds and bear them cozily upon its bosom, 
but now, rising high on wooden stilts, they looked 
undressed and rather undignified. Scattered 
along the sides of the channel lay stranded boats, 
tipped on their beam-ends, but unlike the fish- 
houses, they managed to preserve at low tide, 
some dignity and something of the beauty that 
every boat by right of being possesses. 

Finding a convenient puddle, Oliver washed 
the mud from his feet, put on the sneakers he had 
carried, and climbed the rough ladder nailed to 
the piles of the nearest fish-house. In its 
27 


28 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


shadowy interior he saw an elderly man, and 
Oliver was bursting with questions, requiring 
full and immediate answer. 

The occupant of the shanty was not unaware 
of Oliver’s approach. Some moments previous, 
with the aid of a powerful field-glass, he had 
minutely inspected the two children venturing 
across the creek, and been an amused witness of 
Rosamond’s mishap. He looked up pleasantly 
as the boy appeared in the narrow doorway, but 
did not stop in his occupation of cutting into 
smaller pieces some very bad-smelling fish. 

“ Good-morning, young man,” he remarked, as 
Oliver stood outlined against the sky, his fas- 
cinated eyes bent on this malodorous mass. 

Having returned the greeting, Oliver plunged 
into an abrupt fire of questions. 

“ What is that for? ” he demanded, indicating 
the pile of fish. 

“For baitin’ lobster-pots. Lobsters can’t smell, 
you know. Fact is, they like bait that’s a little 
high.” 

“ Oh, yes, I know,” said Oliver, his memory 
refreshed by a heap of lobster-cages, made of 
laths and worn by sea and sun to a wonderful 
silvery-gray. Everything about the fish-house 


OLIVER VISITS CAPN MITCH 29 

was a symphony of gray, even to shadowy nets 
spread over huge reels to dry. On the platform, 
an upturned boat just painted green, furnished 
the only splash of color in the picture. 

“ You’re young Jarvis, I take it? ” asked the 
man, his busy fingers never for an instant paus- 
ing. 

“ Yes,” said Oliver. “ Do you know my 
father? ” 

“ Met him off ’n’ on when he was down fixin’ 
over the house.” 

“ Please, what is your name? ” Oliver inquired. 

For answer his companion pointed across the 
bare, muddy channel of the empty creek to a 
small building on land above high tide. The 
huge sign on its front read : 

MITCHELL KILMER, 

General Store, Feed and Provisions. 

“ That’s me. Cap’n Mitch to my friends,” he 
added with a pleasant twinkle in his blue eyes. 
“ Where’s your pa? Cornin’ later? ” 

“ He is in France,” said Oliver with something 
like a sigh. “ He went over to do Y. M. C. A. 
work, but as soon as they found out he was an 
architect, they took him away from that and sent; 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


3 ° 

him to rebuild French towns. It is fierce, you 
know, what those beastly Germans have done. 
I wish I was old enough to help somehow . 
Can’t go into the navy, can’t drive an ambulance, 
can’t even raise potatoes! They won’t even let 
me go without butter and sugar because I’ve 
been sick ! ” 

During this outburst, Cap’n Mitch listened 
without comment, though with close scrutiny of 
Oliver’s flushed, excited face. 

“ Well, now,” he said at last. “ You do seem 
up against it, but there’s always two sides to 
everything.” 

“ It’s the wrong side for me every time,” 
grumbled Oliver, applying the remark to his own 
useless condition. “ I wish ” 

From a bucket near by came a splash of water 
and a huge lobster claw suddenly protruded. 
Oliver stopped short. 

“ That’s the biggest lobster I ever saw ! ” he 
exclaimed. 

“ It is a mighty critter,” agreed Cap’n Mitch. 
“ Weighs nigh five pounds. I’m takin’ him up to 
town especially. Calculate I’ll get a better price 
from a restaurant with a show-window than 
sellin’ by weight. Don’t touch him, boy. If he 


OLIVER VISITS CAP’N MITCH 31 

takes a grip on your finger, he’ll likely break 
it.” 

“ Do you often catch such whoppers? ” asked 
Oliver, withdrawing his hand from its dangerous 
proximity to the bucket. 

“ Not in a dog’s age. That’s the grandsire of 
’em all, according to my reckoning. More shorts 
than anything else is our usual luck.” 

“ When do you set your traps? ” asked Oliver. 
The pail of ill-smelling bait was full and Cap’n 
Mitch sat scraping his hands. 

“ Usually about three in the mornin’.” 

“ Oh,” said Oliver, somewhat disconcerted. 

“ Too early for you? ” asked Cap’n Mitch, 
smiling. Oliver’s unspoken wish was plainly 
written on his face. “ Sometimes it’s rough, too. 
But it chances that I’m goin’ out this afternoon 
when the tide comes, just to look at a few pots I 
didn’t get round to this mornin’. If you happen 
down about two, we’ll see.” 

“ Count on me,” said Oliver promptly. “ I 
won’t get seasick either. I’ve often been fish- 
ing with Father. Who is that man on the beach? 
Looks like an artist with his stool and box.” 

“ He’s a man I’ve got no use for,” replied Cap’n 
Mitch shortly. “ Goes by the name of Armes, 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


32 

but I’d be willin’ to wager be bad another name 
before be used that one. He’s loafin’ round pre- 
tendin’ to paint, — guess be does paint — but wbat 
bis real business is, I can’t figger out.” 

“ Ob, he doesn’t live here? ” 

“ Boardin’ over at Bill Joe’s. Quiet enough 
round the bouse, so they say, makes no trouble, 
neither him nor bis dog, but we can’t make out 
wbat he’s after. Sits up till all hours of the 
mornin’ and goes out all times of night. When 
be went there be told Maria Joe be must have a 
key and it must be agreed be was to come and go 
as be chose. She told him the door never bad but 
one key and that was lost twenty years ago. 
Hadn’t been locked since, so be wouldn’t have no 
difficulty gettin’ out and in. Of course, when a 
man’s lobsterin’ be has to go out odd times, but 
Armes can’t paint in the dark. I’ve seen him 
standin’ on the rocks round three in the mornin’, 
lookin’ out to sea. Maria says be can’t seem to 
stand the moon. Perhaps be is loony, but it 
strikes me there’s somethin’ fishy about it.” 

Had Cap’n Mitch noticed the intent eagerness 
with which Oliver listened to his every word, 
perhaps he would not have spoken quite so freely, 
but he was examining an old net. 


OLIVER VISITS CAPN MITCH 33 

“ Is he an American? ” asked Oliver abruptly. 

“ Blessed if I know. Maria, she says he’s got 
books in his room in foreign languages, but she 
doesn’t know what tongue they are. He speaks 
English and I dunno as he looks foreign, but he’s 
so dretful close-mouthed that you can’t find out 
nothin’. I never had much use for a man who 
couldn’t find anythin’ better to do than paint 
pictures. You can see what he paints any time, 
just for the lookin’, so where’s the use of daubin’ 
it on paper? ” 

“ How old is he? ” the boy asked eagerly. 

“ Hard to tell. He’s one of them black-favored 
men who may be any age.” 

“ I was wondering why he wasn’t in the army 
if he was young,” Oliver went on thoughtfully. 

“I suppose he serves his purpose better by 
stayin’ out,” said Cap’n Mitch concisely. “ I 
just wanted to drop a word that he’s a man to 
be looked at from more than one angle. We’ll 
all like him better when we’ve learned his busi- 
ness, and found out why he isn’t ’tendin’ to it, 
rather than loafin’ round Mishannock. We mind 
our own affairs here and keep ourselves to our- 
selves, and we don’t fancy a stranger buttin’ in 
unless he sets forth his reasons for cornin’, good 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


34 

and plain. Maria Joe told Armes she didn’t 
know nothin’ about him, and he said all she 
needed to know was the color of his money, and 
then he pays in advance. So Maria, she shut up. 
I can only hope nothin’ bad will come of it. 
Well, boy, I must go along over to the store. 
Happen round here about two, if you feel like it 
and I’ll take you out in the Shark ” 

“ I’ll be on time,” said Oliver, his attention 
distracted from the stranger in the distance. 
“ Oh, do you know where I can hire a boat? 
Father said I might have one.” 

Cap’n Mitch considered. “A dory, somethin’ 
you can go fishin’ with? ” he asked. 

“ I want to fish, of course,” said Oliver, “ but 
a dory would be pretty heavy, wouldn’t it? 
Father said to get a boat that Rosamond, — my 
sister — could use too.” 

“ Dory carries too much weight for a little 
girl,” agreed Cap’n Mitch. “ I reckon Sam Joe 
has about what you want. He built a skiff for 
his daughter, a light one, pointed fore and aft, 
so she rides easy and rows either way. His girl’s 
married now and lives inland, and I guess that 
boat would just suit. We’ll look him up this 
afternoon. He hasn’t had the skiff out this year, 


OLIVER VISITS CAFN MITCH 35 

and shell likely leak till she’s had a chance to 
soak.” 

“ That sounds fine,” said Oliver. “ Where 
does Mr. Joe live? ” 

Cap’n Mitch grinned. “ His name isn’t rightly 
Joe, it’s Barton. But you can’t throw a stone 
in Mishannock without hittin’ a Barton, and we 
had to tell ’em apart somehow. Joe Barton had 
three sons, so we call ’em Bill Joe, and Sam Joe 
and John Joe. Then there’s Cap’n Joe, and 
Harry Joe; they’re cousins.” 

As he finished this remarkable explanation 
Cap’n Mitch set the pail of bait into a stranded 
dory by the piles of the fish-house, took his keys 
from a nail and shut the door. 

“ Two o’clock,” he repeated. “ Have to start 
sharp on time, so if you are goin’, don’t be late.” 


CHAPTER III 


IN WHICH ROSAMOND EXPLORES RAINBOW 

“ Oliver is always going off with Cap’n Mitch,” 
Rosamond observed rather wistfully one after- 
noon as she stood with nose pressed against the 
glass door opening on the wide veranda looking 
out to sea. “ I suppose, Cousin Angel, you 
wouldn’t like to come down on the beach? ” 

Angelica made no answer, not because she was 
either rude or hard-hearted, but for the simple 
reason that she did not hear. Perhaps this was 
not strange, for Rosamond had done consider- 
able talking during luncheon, to which Cousin 
Angelica, supposing it all addressed to Oliver, 
paid no attention, and the fit of oblivion was still 
upon her. She was equally unaware that Oliver 
was well on his way to the wharves, leaving a 
lonely little sister to her own devices. 

More than once Rosamond had delicately sug- 
gested that she did not mind smelly fish, was 

perfectly willing to spoil all her garments, would 
36 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 37 

not be seasick and want to go ashore, and was 
intensely interested in the ways of lobsters. Ac- 
cording to the lordly Oliver, who pronounced an 
ultimatum in the matter, Cap’n Mitch’s dory and 
Cap’n Mitch’s power-boat were both utterly unfit 
for feminine occupation. Rosamond might use 
the clean little white skiff rented from Sam Joe, 
and keep herself and her clothes from the soil of 
the sea. That the Waterwitch was too frail to 
venture far from the creek and Rosamond’s 
strength unequal to a long pull, did not strike 
Oliver. 

Rosamond looked longingly at Mishannock 
lighthouse, gleaming very white in the afternoon 
sun, and then saw a dory coming from the 
wharves. Cap’n Mitch and Oliver were on their 
way to the motor-boat riding at moorings off 
shore where the tide never fell too low to float 
her. To-day they were not to bait pots but take 
supplies to Love joy, so Oliver had informed his 
sister. The dory was heaped with boxes and 
grain bags to be transferred to the larger boat. 

The motor launch itself next attracted Rosa- 
mond’s eyes and she watched with interest as the 
dory, propelled by Cap’n Mitch, who rowed 
standing, as do all Maine fishermen, came along- 


3 8 RAINBOW ISLAND 

side on a calm sea. Its load was quickly trans- 
ferred, the dory fastened to the mooring, and 
after a moment or two of idle drifting, the motor 
started with a sudden chug, and the boat headed 
for open sea. 

Rosamond watched its speedy departure with 
some envy. The Shark was the fastest boat at 
Mishannock, indeed, only Cap’n Mitch himself 
knew how much she was capable of at a pinch. 
She looked very trim and alluring out there in 
the sunshine and the dancing waves, and there 
really seemed no reason why she should not be 
carrying a little girl in a middy blouse and blue 
serge bloomers, especially since they were not 
Rosamond’s best bloomers, but those with a darn 
of some size. But, of course, Oliver liked to be 
alone with Cap’n Mitch, and girls were some 
bother, Rosamond supposed. At least, such had 
been the knowledge gleaned from the experience 
of her lifetime. She watched the boat till it dis- 
appeared around the end of Rainbow Island and 
then her glance fell on the lonely house. 

“ Cousin Angel,” she said, leaving the window 
and coming to slide a persuasive arm around 
Angelica’s neck, “ don’t you want to come row- 
ing with me? ” 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 


39 

This time Angelica heard. She lifted a pair 
of beautiful brown eyes from a wildly confused 
mass of papers. 

“ Why, I don’t know. Where’s Oliver? ” 

“ Gone to Love joy with Cap’n Mitch. I asked 
Pearl to go out with me and she said she wouldn’t 
set foot in a boat. She went once fifteen years 
ago and that was enough. She wanted to be 
where she had more than a plank between her 
and death. It didn’t sound as though she would 
enjoy it, so I didn’t urge her. But you can 
swim, Cousin Angel. Let’s row across the creek 
to Rainbow Island.” 

Angelica did not in the least wish to go, but 
something in her little cousin’s voice roused her 
to a realization that she had not seen much of 
either Oliver or Rosamond during these two 
week& at Mishannoek. She gathered that both 
had found acquaintances and were enjoying them- 
selves; Oliver by actual test had gained four 
pounds and ate like a famished wolf ; Rosamond 
begged for some paints and a block of paper, 
which Angelica ordered from town without in- 
quiring into this sudden interest in sketching. 
Really, now she thought of it, she had done very 
little for either of the children, beyond seeing 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


40 

that their physical wants were supplied. And 
perhaps Pearl deserved more credit for that than 
she herself. Angelica suddenly pushed aside her 
papers. 

“All right, Rosy, I’ll come.” 

Rosamond clapped her hands with glee. 
Cousin Angel pulled a shady hat over her lovely 
brown curls and announced herself as ready. 

The Waterwitch, half -stranded by the ebbing 
waves, lay tipped on her side at the edge of the 
creek below Cap’n Mitch’s store. Angelica, who 
had come just as she chanced to be dressed, in a 
clean pink linen gown and white shoes, looked 
askance at the slimy expanse between her and 
the boat. But the mud had no terrors for Rosa- 
mond’s worn sneakers. 

“I’ll bring a plank, Cousin Angel,” she an- 
nounced gayly, suiting the action to the word. 
Presently both were seated in the little skiff. 

“ Would you like me to row? ” asked Angelica, 
rolling her sleeves and displaying capable-look- 
ing arms. 

“ I’d like to do it,” Rosamond responded hap- 
pily. “ You haven’t been out before and I want 
you just to enjoy yourself. Besides, you don’t 
know the channel and it’s very crooked, so we 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 41 

might go ashore if I didn’t row. First, we have 
to go right between these two fish-houses and 
that’s quite difficult because almost always boats 
are anchored there.’’ 

“ We are coming to two,” said Angelica, look- 
ing up at the schooners on either side, keels every 
moment more exposed by the dropping tide. 

“ The Raven is Cap’n Joe’s fishing schooner,” 
said Rosamond, glancing at it as they slid past. 
“ Usually he’s off deep-sea fishing, but this year 
he hasn’t gone out because of submarines.” 

u Submarines ? Ridiculous ! ” pronounced An- 
gelica. “ If they come over here, which probably 
they won’t, they will not waste ammunition on 
fishing-boats.” 

“ Cap’n Joe is scared that they will,” repeated 
Rosamond sturdily. “ This next sloop, the Sea- 
Shell, belongs to Bill Joe.” 

“ The one at the wharf across looks like a 
pleasure-boat,” said Angelica. “ What a pretty 
sail ! It is exactly like those one sees in Venice.” 

“ Oh, the Secret ” said Rosamond. “ That boat 
belongs to Mr. Armes, and he dyed the sail that 
red-brown himself. He is going to take me sail- 
ing some afternoon, if you will let me go. 
May I? ” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


42 

Angelica was still looking delightedly at the 
trim little gray-green cat-boat, with its lovely 
russet canvas flapping against a silvery-gray 
mast. 

“Why, the man must have a fine sense of 
color,” she observed. “ Is he the captain with 
whom Oliver has struck up such an acquaint- 
ance? One wouldn’t expect a fisherman to ar- 
range such a harmony as that.” 

“ Mr. Armes isn’t a fisherman, Cousin Angel,” 
laughed Rosamond. “ He’s an artist and we are 
great friends. He is teaching me to paint, and 
he says he will take me sailing along with Tony. 
Tony is his dog. May I go? ” 

“ Why, I don’t know,” said Angelica. “ I 
shouldn’t want you to go without Oliver, espe- 
cially since he isn’t a fisherman.” 

“ But he is a gentleman,” said Rosamond. 
“ Oh, well, when you meet him, Cousin Angel, 
you’ll think it all right for me to go. Isn’t the 
Secret an odd name for a boat? I asked Mr. 
Armes what it meant and he said that was 
it.” 

With the tide ebbing, Rosamond’s light oars 
found easy work and the Waterwitch soon 
passed from view of the boats, beyond the region 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 43 

of stilted fish-houses into the wider stretch be- 
tween mainland and neighboring islands. An- 
gelica, who had really spent a ridiculously small 
part of her stay at Mishannock out-of-doors, 
was silent for a time through sheer enjoy- 
ment. 

“ How wonderfully clear the water is ! ” she 
remarked at length. “ Look down below — it 
must be six feet — how distinctly you can see the 
footprints left by somebody who walked across 
when the tide was out. And see all the snails. 
But where are you going, Rosy? We’d better 
not go far beyond our point, for we are already 
getting some swells.” 

“I want to land on the beach over here at 
Rainbow,” replied Rosamond, tugging valiantly 
at the oars. “ You see the ribs and keel of that 
old wreck? I’m going to tie to that. It is a 
real wreck, a lumber schooner that went ashore 
in a winter storm.” 

Rosamond spoke puffily, with failing breath. 
Angelica, who knew much more about handling 
a boat, forebore to criticize Rosamond’s erratic 
motions, and when the skiff came awkwardly 
ashore, broadside to, took an oar and helped bring 
it around for a better landing. She stood aside 


44 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


while Rosamond tied the painter to a spike pro- 
truding from the gaunt gray ribs of the wrecked 
schooner. 

“A halter-knot, Rosy,” she ventured. “ That’s 
the worst kind of a granny.” 

“ Of course,” agreed Rosamond. “ I forgot 
that boats wiggle like horses, so they need a slip- 
knot. There ! ” 

Along the southern side of Rainbow stretched 
a wide beach, stony and pebbly at the upper edge, 
sandy in the middle, wet and rather muddy be- 
low. Without care, Rosamond splashed through 
puddles, seaweed, and whatever she encountered, 
but Angelica skipped from stone to stone, in an 
effort to preserve the pristine beauty of her can- 
vas shoes. 

Beyond the beach grew marsh-grass, a perfect 
tangle of wild roses, raspberry bushes, and vines 
of various kinds, the tangle waist-high and quite 
impenetrable. Even Rosamond backed out after 
an attempt to enter. 

“ We’d better walk along the beach,” she said. 
“ I want to see that house on the point.” 

“ How do the people living in it ever get there, 
unless by water? ” asked Angelica. 

" Oh, Cousin Angel, nobody lives there,” 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 45 

laughed Rosamond. “ Didn’t I tell you what 
Mr. Armes said about it? ” 

“ What a pity ! ” commented Angelica as Rosa- 
mond concluded her tale. “ It surely is a most 
attractive place.” 

They were now near enough the empty house 
to see the fine lines of its architecture, the soft 
shades to which time, sun and storm had subdued 
the original stain of the shingles, the mass of 
woodbine covering roof and chimney, but also 
to see the rotting clapboards, the piazza minus 
half its flooring and all its railing. 

To the east stretched a wonderful view, a 
sapphire sea beyond bare rocks covered with 
yellow and brown seaweed. Directly before the 
house lay a sheltered inlet which seemed to have 
water deep enough to permit a dory to come di- 
rectly inshore without danger from hidden rocks. 

Angelica sat down on the sand, clasping her 
hands about her knees, and looking intently out 
to sea, with dreamy eyes fixed on the lighter 
streak of blue that marked the change from 
horizon to sky. For a few moments Rosamond 
stood beside her, then feeling strongly the at- 
traction of the half-ruined house behind them, 
she turned toward it. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


46 

Cautious steps were needed over the front 
piazza where planks were missing, but at the side 
the flooring was still in place. Here the wood- 
bine hung from the top of a bay window in a 
great swaying mass of green, and to Rosamond’s 
delight, she saw, when a puff of wind moved the 
vines, that they fell over a vacant window space, 
quite unprotected by any panes. The single 
glimpse she obtained before they returned to 
place was of a floor littered by broken glass. 
Only a step and she would be inside. 

Down by the rocks, Angelica sat motionless. 
It was no use to ask her to come also, for in 
thought she was worlds away from Mishannock 
and the empty house on Rainbow, doubtless 
marching at the head of a procession of captive 
congressmen, each meekly waving a yellow 
banner and shouting “ Votes for Women ! ” No, 
to leave Cousin Angel to her reverie was best. 

Rosamond pushed aside the massed vine and 
took one high step over the frame of the low bay 
window. 

She stood in what had evidently been intended 
for the dining-room, for a pretty china closet, 
with a latticed door, was built in at one side of 
the corner fireplace. At her right a wide open- 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 


47 

ing led into a big front room with anothei fire- 
place and three tall French windows opening on 
the piazza, but tightly boarded. The adjoining 
hall also boasted a fireplace, but none of the three 
had ever known the cheery flames of driftwood. 
Clean, bare, and unsmoked, their red tiles bore 
silent witness to the fact that nobody had ever 
lighted upon their hearths the fires of home. 

Rosamond wandered into a pleasant kitchen 
with a soapstone sink that had never been used, 
faucets that had never known water. Up-stairs 
were five bedrooms, each so charming that she 
could not decide which she would pretend was 
hers. All had cunning latticed windows opening 
outward, roomy closets and built-in book-shelves. 
In its day, the house had been an expensive 
luxury for some one, for it was finished in hard 
wood and plastered and tinted in soft artistic 
colors. Down-stairs much of the plaster had 
fallen, but up-stairs the rooms were in excellent 
shape, lacking only furniture to make them 
habitable. 

After careful inspection, Rosamond decided on 
the east room looking seaward as the most at- 
tractive of the five. Its window framed a charm- 
ing view of rock and ocean, a singularly wild one, 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


48 

for when one looked directly out to sea neither 
Mishannock light nor any house was in sight. 
Rosamond, where she stood, could not possibly 
be seen except by some one on a boat directly in 
line with her window. 

The wood of her chosen room was stained gray, 
and as Rosamond lingered by the front window, 
she noticed, a memorandum penciled on its sill, 
hastily scrawled, as though made by some one 
who wrote down a reminder with eyes elsewhere. 
Rosamond looked at it idly, for it conveyed no 
meaning to her mind. Arranged in a column, 
one below the other, were three sets of notes. 

B— 45 
D— L 
P— E 

Rosamond gave the memorandum but a glance 
and then turned to look into the closet, wonder- 
ing whether, in the dream housekeeping she was 
planning, proper provision had been made for 
summer garments. To her surprise, the closet 
was locked. 

All the other closets were provided simply with 
a latch and opened to a touch, but this was fast 
shut. 


ROSAMOND EXPLORES 49 

“ Perhaps I’d like the other front room in- 
stead,” thought Rosamond, hut she soon con- 
cluded that it would not answer as well, for the 
window looking toward Love joy and Mishannock 
light was very tightly hoarded, and the view 
east was not nearly so extensive as from the 
room of her first choice. 

Down by the rocks, Angelica still sat absorbed 
in the beauty of sea and sun, and Rosamond was 
glad of her presence, for she was beginning to 
feel the loneliness of this quiet house. It was 
more than lonesome, in a way, it was sad, because 
it was a house that somebody would have loved 
dearly, had it ever been a home. Perhaps a con- 
sciousness of the affection it had missed and the 
love it had never known, mingled with the im- 
pression it made on Rosamond. Suddenly she 
felt very sorry for the house, as though it were 
a living being that was unhappy and needed to 
be comforted. 


CHAPTER IV 


IN WHICH ANGELICA TAKES A WALK 

In spite of the pleasing interior ascribed by- 
Rosamond to the empty house, Cousin Angel con- 
tinued to prefer her seat on the sand. The tide, 
now far out, left bare ridges and reefs extending 
to a great distance, and showing plainly that a 
deep and fairly straight channel led to the little 
harbor before the house. Doubtless the existence 
of this passage had been a factor in its location. 
Its builder probably dreamed of anchoring a 
launch in safety before his front door. 

Rosamond soon discovered that the rock pools 
were populated by tiny wiggling shrimp, which 
possessed an uncanny power of contracting their 
slim bodies and suddenly shooting with startling 
rapidity to a distance. Try as she might to catch 
one of these agile creatures, it proved impossible, 
but Rosamond was yet attempting to close her 
fingers upon one, when Angelica rose. 

“ It will be dinner-time before we reach home, 
50 


ANGELICA TAKES A WALK 51 

Rosy, and I haven’t accomplished one single 
thing all the afternoon.” 

“ Why, I thought the afternoon had just be- 
gun,” exclaimed Rosamond, but a glance at the 
dainty watch on her cousin’s wrist showed that 
it was after five. “ Where has the time gone? ” 
she lamented. “ Isn’t it queer that the days 
you have the nicest times are always the 
shortest? ” 

Angelica smiled. She was picking her way 
cautiously along the beach, walking by choice 
upon a wide bed of dried seaweed. She had 
opened her lips to reply to Rosamond’s sage ob- 
servation, but changed her remark to a startled 
shriek. Rosamond turned to see her rushing 
toward the stones above the weed. 

“What is the matter, Cousin Angel?” she 
asked anxiously. 

“ Look at my shoes ! ” moaned Angelica. 
“ That horrid seaweed is all decayed underneath 
and I stepped through. Did you ever see or 
smell anything more disgusting? ” 

Rosamond surveyed the shoes her cousin was 
trying to clean with tufts of grass. Their lower 
half was dyed seal-brown, by some liquid cer- 
tainly most unpleasant to one’s nostrils. 


52 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ Will they wash? ” she asked doubtfully, for 
the color appeared appallingly permanent and 
grass did nothing toward removing the stain. 

“ Oh, I don’t know,” said Angelica. “ It looks 
as though it would last. I wish some chemist 
would come along and use that weed for a dye. 
He might make his fortune. Come on, Rosy. 
I’ve spoiled my shoes so it doesn’t matter where 
I walk.” 

“ But look at the boat ! ” exclaimed Rosamond 
as they turned the point. “ Why, we can’t row 
across, for there isn’t any water.” 

High and dry, half up the beach, lay the wreck 
with the little boat at its lower end. Any granny 
knot would have sufficed to hold that skiff on a 
falling tide, but neither girl had realized that 
the water was going so fast. 

“ How’ll we ever get back? ” asked Rosamond, 
as it dawned on her that even could they push 
the Waterwitch over the soft mud, she would be 
useless in the dry channel. 

“We shall have to walk,” said Angelica. 
“ The boat will be safe where it is, and to-morrow 
you can get a man to go for it at high tide. My 
shoes are so wet and dirty that I might just as 
well cross as I am, but I should think you would 


ANGELICA TAKES A WALK 53 

prefer to walk over barefoot. I want to see if 
wading will improve this horrid stain.” 

Cheered by her cousin’s calm acceptance of 
their predicament, Rosamond shed sneakers and 
socks and walked gayly out on the wet sand of 
the channel bottom. The tide was far beyond 
the point and to cross to the Jarvis house looked 
a simple matter. The bottom of the exposed 
channel, too, offered interesting discoveries, 
stranded starfish, snails, razor-clams, fiddler- 
crabs, that, hidden in empty snail-shells, were 
scuttling around with a speed that distinguished 
them from those yet occupied by the staid original 
owners. Very gently, Rosamond succeeded in 
pulling one of these tiny burglars from his stolen 
house, only to see him hustle rapidly into another 
as soon as released. A few round holes indi- 
cated clams, but evidently this was not a good 
clamming-flat. 

Angelica, her pretty garments gathered to a 
safe height, and serenely disregardful of her 
shoes, picked her way among the hardest spots 
of sand, interested in Rosamond’s enjoyment of 
the treasures left by the tide. Gradually they 
branched from a line leading straight to the 
house, into a more slanting direction. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


54 

“ What a lovely piece of kelp ! ” said Rosa* 
mond, picking up one end of a tremendous 
streamer. “ Don’t you believe it’s six feet long? 
Oh, see that pearly shell ! ” 

She started at a right angle toward the object 
of her desire, then stopped with an exclamation. 
One foot suddenly went down into soft mud. 

“ Oh, be careful, Rosy,” warned Angelica, as 
the foot came out with a dull plop. “ It looks 
very muddy over that way. Is that man on the 
shore shouting at us? ” 

Rosamond looked up. Scrambling over the 
rocks below the Jarvis house was a man, who 
certainly seemed trying to attract their atten- 
tion. Close behind, followed a black wiggling 
object instantly identified. 

“ It’s Mr. Armes and his dog. Is he calling? ” 

Satisfied that they saw him, Mr. Armes 
stopped, made a trumpet of his hands and called 
distinctly, “ Keep to your right.” 

“ How very peculiar,” said Angelica. “ Why 
should he shout at us? ” 

“ I don’t know,” replied Rosamond. “ Perhaps 
he thinks we are going too far out.” 

“ The water is at least fifty rods away and the 
tide hasn’t turned,” said Angelica, somewhat 


ANGELICA TAKES A WALK 55 

annoyed by the presumption of this stranger. 
She took a step in Rosamond’s direction, and in 
her turn uttered an exclamation. One foot sank 
into mud far above the ankle; Angelica lost her 
balance, and in her immaculate pink gown, sat 
down hard on the bottom of the channel. Rosa- 
mond screamed in sympathy, but she too was over 
both ankles in disagreeable ooze. 

From the rocks Mr. Armes again called, and 
his words partook not of a warning direction but 
a positive order. “ Stay right where you are ! ” 
he shouted, and sitting down on the rocks, began 
to remove his shoes and socks and roll his 
trousers. 

Angelica was not accustomed to taking orders 
from any man, even one related to her, much less 
an absolute stranger, and she did not at all fancy 
the tone of this interfering person. With diffi- 
culty she rose, drew out a foot, now shoeless, took 
another step and sank even deeper. There were 
limits to even Angelica’s self-confidence, and she 
had never encountered a situation like the 
present. 

“ Perhaps you would better stand still, Rosy,” 
she remarked with dignity, “and I will step 
around till I find a harder place.” 


56 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Before she could take the proposed first step, 
the man hurrying toward them shouted again, 
and this time his voice was utterly lacking in the 
deference which the disdainful Angelica was ac- 
customed to exact from the despised order of 
men. “ Stand still, I tell you,” commanded this 
impolite specimen. 

Angelica stiffened with indignation, but 
obeyed, not at all through submission, but be- 
cause she literally could not extricate herself 
from the mud, now half up to her knees. Wrath 
flushed her cheeks and added sparkle to her eyes, 
and Mr. Armes, artist that he was, quite agreed 
with Rosamond that there was ground for con- 
sidering Cousin Angel the prettiest person he 
had ever seen. 

“ Pardon my abruptness,” he said as he came 
up, “ but you’ll get into a frightful mess if you 
go out any farther. It isn’t exactly a quicksand, 
but the bottom is very soft.” 

“We can’t get any messier than we already 
are,” said Angelica coolly. 

“ Please give me your hand, Miss Newton,” 
said this impossible stranger. “ Turn, if you 
can, and step in my direction.” 

With burning indignation, Angelica suffered 


ANGELICA TAKES A WALK 57 

herself to be pulled out of the mud by masculine 
force, and restored to firm footing, minus both 
shoes, and with her dress solid mud almost to her 
knees. 

“ Now, Rosamond, your turn,” said Mr. Armes 
as he saw Angelica in safety. 

Rosamond, who was not half so badly mired as 
her cousin, and whose clothes were not nearly 
so soiled, was laughing with glee at their pre- 
dicament. To her, Mr. Armes was an old friend, 
and she chattered merrily as they walked ashore. 
Angelica proceeded in stony silence, trying to 
collect such fragments of self-possession as sur- 
vived this annoying experience. Mr. Armes 
talked with Rosamond, with eyes all the while 
belying his quiet lips. He was aching to laugh, 
but did not dare, because of this pretty girl, who 
somehow managed to remain dignified, in spite 
of her lost shoes and her muddy gown. What a 
model she would make ! And would she ever let 
him sketch her? 

The trip across the channel was short and as 
they reached the steps leading up to the sea-wall 
before the Jarvis place, Angelica turned to the 
two behind. 

“ I am much obliged,” she said with a charm- 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


58 

ing blush. “ I believe you are the gentleman who 
has been so kind to my little cousin. We are 
both indebted to you this afternoon.” 

“ Oh, now you have met Mr. Armes, you will 
let me go sailing with him, won’t you, Cousin 
Angel? ” begged Rosamond impulsively. 

If she did dislike men, Angelica was just, and 
in those few moments she had estimated Mr. 
Armes sufficiently to know that Rosamond could 
come to no harm in his company. 

“ It is very good of you,” she said stiffly. “ I 
have no objection to Rosy’s going with you for 
an hour some afternoon.” 

John Armes bowed and withdrew. As he sat 
on the rocks lacing his shoes, he heard a sudden 
imperative call from the cottage above. 

“Pearl,” said a clear, decisive young voice, 
“please come straight out here and wash me 
off with the hose.” 


CHAPTER V 


IN WHICH OLIVER SEES A LIGHT 

That evening Angelica worked doubly bard 
to make up for her lazy afternoon. To look at 
her, dressed in soft green muslin, nobody would 
have suspected she could be the same person upon 
whom the scandalized Pearl had turned the hose 
three hours previous. Those muddy garments, 
now hung, cleansed from contamination, pink 
and spotless, upon the line behind the house. 
But several feet below the swirling tide, deep in 
the sticky ooze, reposed Angelica’s once white 
shoes. Unless she was willing to sacrifice an- 
other pair to the cause of science, she would never 
know whether the seaweed dye was permanent. 

Oliver and Rosamond, having dined well and 
to their taste, sat side by side on the sea-wall, 
watching the fishing-boats glide into Lovejoy 
harbor beyond Mishannock light. 

“We saw you on the rocks at the deserted 
59 


6o 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


house,” observed Oliver. “ I could see you just 
as plain through Cap’n Mitch’s glasses. Cousin 
Angel was mooning over something as she al- 
ways is, and I don’t believe she saw us at all. 
You didn’t, because you were lying flat on your 
face trying to fish something out of a pool. That 
Amies man was ’way the other end of the island 
with his dog. Cap’n Mitch looked at him, too. 
I have an idea that he thinks Armes isn’t here 
for any good.” 

“ What do you mean? ” Rosamond asked won- 
deringly. “ Mr. Armes is ever so nice.” 

“ Yes, he would be,” said Oliver. “ Cap’n 
Mitch doesn’t understand what he is doing here, 
that’s all. He says he is out half the night, and 
several times he’s seen him over by the empty 
house.” 

“ It’s very pretty,” said Rosamond. “ Perhaps 
he wants to paint a picture of it.” 

“ He has made one,” replied her brother, “ but 
Cap’n Mitch doesn’t believe he is really an artist. 
Do you know what I think? I think he’s a spy ! ” 

“ What, a German? Oh, he isn’t, Oliver; he’s 
too nice for that. Besides, what should he be 
spying here at Mishannock? There’s nothing on 
earth for him to spy at.” 


OLIVER SEES A LIGHT 61 


“Don’t you be too sure,” Oliver said wisely. 
“ There’s a lot of talk in the newspapers about 
submarines coming over. I think Armes is an 
alien enemy and that he is here for some reason 
connected with their coming. Perhaps he goes 
out in his boat, expecting to find one and give it 
information. That would explain his sail being 
stained that queer color. They would know him, 
you see, the minute they spied him through the 
periscope. Yes, that must be the reason,” re- 
peated Oliver, quite delighted with this explana- 
tion. “And I am sure he isn’t an American.” 

“ He talks just like one,” objected Rosamond. 
“ What makes you think he isn’t? ” 

“ His mustache, for one thing. American men 
of his age are always clean-shaven. Only a for- 
eigner would wear a little perky black mustache 
like that.” 

“ He can’t help its being black,” said the literal 
Rosamond. “It would look very queer indeed 
if it were yellow.” 

“ If that isn’t just like a girl,” said Oliver in 
disgust. “ I don’t mean the color, and of course 
it isn’t false, — it grows there, — but it is his wear- 
ing one at all. And then the scars on his face 
and hand. I believe he has been in the war.” 


62 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ But not on the German side,” objected Rosa- 
mond. “ If he had been captured, he would be 
a prisoner, and couldn’t be here.” 

“ Perhaps he fought a duel when he was a 
student at a German university,” observed 
Oliver. “That would account for the scars. 
And there are plenty of spies around loose. We 
are asked by the government to be on the watch 
for them. I think Mr. Armes is a suspicious 
character.” 

“ I don’t,” said Rosamond loyally. “ Why 
shouldn’t he like the deserted house? I love it.” 

She went on to describe in detail the charm of 
the place, her brother listening somewhat ab- 
sently. Not until she mentioned the locked 
closet did he show any special sign of interest. 

“ That shows there is something fishy about 
it,” he exclaimed. “ I’d better tell Cap’n Mitch. 
Why should there be a locked closet in a deserted 
house? I’ll wager Armes has something shut 
in it. Was it an ordinary lock? ” 

“ No,” Rosamond admitted, rather reluctantly, 
for somehow she could not connect any under- 
hand doings with her kind friend of the rocks. 
“ It was a long iron piece with a padlock.” 

“ That makes it surer that something is 


OLIVER SEES A LIGHT 63 

wrong, 1 ” said Oliver in triumph. “ Somebody 
must have put it on. Did you see anything else 
queer? ” 

“I don’t think so,” replied his sister, quite 
forgetting the penciled memorandum on the 
window-sill, to which she had given but a second’s 
thought. “ But I don’t see why you think Mr. 
Armes locked that closet.” 

“ Only because nobody knows his business, and 
in time of war it is everybody’s affair to know 
about strangers.” 

“ Mr. Armes has been ill ; he told me so,” said 
Rosamond indignantly. “ Why can’t he be here 
just resting and getting strong, as you are? No- 
body thinks you are a spy.” 

“ Of course not. But it is different with him, 
and he does poke around that house. Cap’n 
Mitch said so, and he is watching him. I shall 
watch* too, and if he is a spy, I shall find it out, 
and it will be a real service to my country. I 
can’t seem to do anything else just now, so I 
shall trail Mr. Armes. Don’t you tell him,” 
Oliver ended, aware from the expression on 
Rosamond’s face that she was not in sympathy 
with his plans. 

‘ “ Trail him all you like,” she replied stoutly. 


64 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“I shall be friends till I have some reason 
to think he isn’t as nice as he seems. But, 
Oliver ” 

“ Look at the camouflaged steamer,” exclaimed 
her brother. “ Wait till I get the glasses. Isn’t 
it a sight ! ” 

In her interest over the disguised boat, Rosa- 
mond forgot Mr. Armes and her brother’s absurd 
theory. Painted in huge patches of black and 
white, some artist, experienced in producing odd 
effects by means of his brush, had changed a 
single large boat to look like two small ones, 
with a space of clear water between, the two 
heading in different directions. Not until the 
children saw for themselves through the glasses 
that the two were really one, were they con- 
vinced. 

“ Cap’n Mitch told me about a big steamer 
that passed, and she had a little destroyer painted 
right on her side, so it looked as though it was 
steaming close beside her,” said Oliver. “ There 
is the patrol boat going in to report at Mis- 
hannock light. Cap’n Mitch says the whole 
coast is divided up and patrolled by war vessels. 
One comes in here to report every twenty-four 
hours. The other end of her beat is Burnt 


OLIVER SEES A LIGHT 65 

Island. And every day sea-planes go by. I shall 
watch for them, but they are very hard to 
spot.” 

From the lighthouse fog-bell came two strokes, 
acknowledging the presence of the coast patrol. 
Presently the fast little cruiser turned in a wide 
circle to retrace her way to the south. 

“ It doesn’t seem as though she could be 
Johnny-on-the-spot wherever she happened to be 
wanted,” said Oliver thoughtfully. “ Don’t I 
envy the fellows on board her ! If I were seven- 
teen, you can bet I’d be in the navy.” 

“Mr. Armes told me that there is a naval 
guard at Mishannock light,” said Rosamond. 
“He sailed over, meaning to land and see the 
lighthouse, but the guard told him nobody was 
permitted to come ashore. They can’t even go to 
Love joy for supplies, but have to wait till the 
lighthouse tender brings them. The guard 
sleeps in those white tents on the shore.” 

“ I’d rather patrol on water than be stuck on 
land,” said Oliver. “ Beat you at croquet, 
Roger.” 

Rosamond instantly slid from the sea-wall. 
She loved to have her brother call her that, a 
name dating from the days when three-year-old 


66 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


Oliver dubbed the baby sister “ Roger-mond.” 
She forgot both Mr. Armes and Oliver’s theories 
in three hotly contested games lasting till even 
the long June twilight failed. Finally they w T ent 
to bed of their own accord, for Angelica was too 
much absorbed to remember the hour or to sug- 
gest to the children the advisability of going to 
rest. 

Rosamond was sleepy and shut her eyes almost 
as soon as her head touched the pillow. It 
seemed but a few seconds later that somebody 
shook her gently, startling her into full con- 
sciousness. 

“Do wake, Roger,” whispered Oliver in her 
ear. “ Come into my room. I want to show 
you something you can’t see from here.” 

Rosamond sat up, seized her heavy kimono, and 
pulled it on, for the night was cool. After some 
groping at her bedside, she located her slippers 
and crossed the hall to her brother’s room, where 
he stood at the east window, staring intently out 
to sea. 

There was no moon and the night was dark. 
Only the stars shone brightly. Rosamond could 
hear the water surging on the rocks, but could 
not distinguish where land ended and sea began. 


OLIVER SEES A LIGHT 67 

u Look beyond Mishannoek light,” said Oliver 
in the same cautious whisper. 

Rosamond strained her eyes but could see noth- 
ing at all. Over at Love joy the church clock 
struck two measured strokes. 

“ I can’t see anything, Ollie,” she said at 
length. 

“ There ! ” exclaimed her brother. 66 There it 
is again.” 

Out of the darkness away to sea came a single 
vivid flash, followed by a second shorter one. A 
minute later the two were repeated, and then 
came absolute, unbroken darkness. 

“ Of course,” said Oliver after a time, during 
which neither watcher saw anything unusual, 
“ it may be some vessel signalling Mishannoek 
light for some reason. I wish there was a way 
of finding out whether those coast guard fellows 
over there saw this. Anyway, there’s something 
going on. I shall watch a while longer.” 

Rosamond wished to stay also, so Oliver pulled 
two blankets from his bed, gave one to his sister, 
and wrapped himself in the other for a vigil last- 
ing fully three-quarters of an hour. Nothing 
happened. 

“I guess it is over for to-night, whatever it 


68 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


meant,” said Oliver, finding himself sleepy. 
“ You’d better go back to bed.” 

“Are you going to tell Cap’n Mitch? ” asked 
his sister, sliding from the window-seat. 

“I don’t know. I’d like to find out what is 
going on all by myself. You might help me, 
Roger. You can watch Mr. Armes.” 

“He doesn’t need any watching,” said Rosa- 
mond, though flattered by her inclusion in her 
brother’s plans, “ but of course I will try to help 
you.” 

Rosamond stopped at a sudden rustle in the 
garden below the window. Through its darkness 
came a sudden scuttling little black form, so 
black that both saw it against the grayer night, 
the form of Tony Orlando Cape Porpoise. 

“ Doesn’t need watching, I don’t think ! ” com- 
mented Oliver. “ There’s his dog to prove he’s 
out somewhere this very minute in the middle of 
the night.” 


CHAPTER VI 

IN WHICH THERE IS A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 

“ Let us go after the boat ourselves,” suggested 
Oliver the next morning. “ It is almost low tide 
and we can wade over and wait until there is 
water enough to float her. While we are wait- 
ing, we will take a look at the deserted house.” 

Rosamond gladly agreed. To have Oliver 
make a plan including her as his companion was 
in itself delightful. She had expected that he 
would as usual betake himself to the company of 
Cap’n Mitch. 

At breakfast, Angelica appeared less absent- 
minded than was ordinarily the case. She an- 
nounced her intention of driving to Trafton in 
order to do some research work at the library and 
suggested that Rosamond accompany her. 

“ I didn’t realize until yesterday that it must 

be dull for you, Rosy,” she remarked kindly. 

69 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


70 

“ Oliver is off with his sea-captain and that leaves 
you alone. I imagine there will be books for you 
to look over while I am finding what I want. Or 
have you planned something else? ” 

Oliver, who listened in disapproval to his 
cousin’s suggestion, gave Rosamond no chance to 
reply. 

“ It’s going to be hot, Cousin Angel. It’s 
hotter here than it’s been any morning. Why 
don’t you wait for a cooler day? ” 

“ Oh, do you think it is warm? ” asked An- 
gelica in surprise. “ It hadn’t occurred to me. 
But it will be cool driving and the library will 
probably be comfortable. Rosy doesn’t need to 
go, if she has other plans.” 

“ We were going to the island after the boat,” 
Oliver explained. “ If you are to be away, we 
might as well take our lunch and picnic.” 

“ That reminds me,” said Angelica absently. 
“ It was Pearl who said she wanted to do some 
shopping the next time I went to town. I had 
the impression somebody wanted to go, but some- 
how, I thought it was Rosy. Pearl shall pack a 
picnic lunch for you and she can do her shopping 
in Trafton while I am at the library.” 

“ It will be hot as blazes,” warned Oliver again, 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 71 

but Angelica, who seldom looked at a ther- 
mometer and never complained of the heat, re- 
mained serenely oblivious. Pearl appeared 
pleased at prospect of a change from isolated 
Mishannock, and packed a lunch for the children 
with alacrity. Before nine the two stood watch- 
ing the big car moving carefully into the main 
road, and then the house on the point seemed 
suddenly very much alone. 

“Ought we to lock the door?” queried Rosa- 
mond when the car was out of sight. “ We shall 
be gone so long.” 

“ What’s the use? The windows are all open 
and who would come anyway? We never do lock 
up even at night.” 

Five minutes later the two went over the sea- 
wall and down the steps to the rocks below, 
Oliver carrying two thermos-bottles in a black 
bag, Rosamond a box of lunch. 

The tide had turned but time sufficed to wade 
the channel without danger of wetting one’s 
clothes, and both were barefoot. Recalling the 
experience of yesterday and Angelica’s shoes, lost 
to sight though yet remembered, Rosamond care- 
fully kept a straight line across to Rainbow, nor 
did they delay for treasures of the tide. Fifteen 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


72 

minutes later found them ashore on the wide 
beach of the island. 

At the edge of the water, Rosamond sat down 
to dry her feet with her handkerchief, but Oliver 
walked on to where the Waterwitch lay tied to 
the gray old wreck. He planned to tuck the 
luncheon under her bow seat while they went on 
to the house at the end of the point. 

Busy pulling on her socks, Rosamond did not 
notice that Oliver paused in surprise by the boat, 
but when he called abruptly, she hurried to him 
without stopping to tie her sneakers. 

“ Somebody has been here this morning,” he 
announced as she arrived. “Look at the foot- 
prints leading right down from the beach. Look 
at them, Roger. You can see where they go off 
under water.” 

Both ran down to the edge of the sea. Very 
clearly defined, as far as they could see from 
shore, the man who made the prints on the beach 
had also crossed the channel at low tide, leaving 
marks in the mud and ooze that for a time would 
remain. 

“Ah, but see ! ” exclaimed Oliver in excitement. 
“ See, Roger, the man had a dog with him ! 
There are his paw-prints. You needn’t tell me 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 73 

that Armes fellow wasn’t over here last 
night.” 

“ It looks as though he was,” sighed Eosamond 
as she saw the tell-tale traces of a dog beside 
those of a man. “ But it does not prove, Oliver, 
that he was doing anything wrong. Perhaps he 
was just trying to find out what was going on, 
which is precisely what you want to do your- 
self.” 

“And what I am going to do,” announced 
Oliver. “ Something queer is certainly happen- 
ing here at Mishannock and I mean to find out 
what. Let’s stow the lunch in the boat.” 

The two continued their walk down the beach. 
No doubt that the day was warm, for when the 
breeze from sea failed for an instant, the sun 
made itself unmistakably felt. Angelica and 
Pearl would doubtless spend some uncomfortable 
moments in town. Still, there might be com- 
pensations, so Rosamond thought, in the way 
of unlimited ice-cream for luncheon. 

Down on the point the unoccupied house looked 
as lonely as ever and Rosamond stopped to pick 
a handful of wild roses before entering. She had 
a feeling that it would enjoy a gift of flowers. 
When she lifted the woodbine screen and entered 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


74 

the dining-room, Oliver had finished his inspec- 
tion of the lower floor and gone up-stairs. Rosa- 
mond laid her roses along the edge of the living- 
room mantel, regretting that she had neither vase 
nor fresh water to preserve their beauty for a 
time. Hearing her brother call, she ran up- 
stairs. 

“ I can’t find any locked closet,” complained 
Oliver accusingly. 

Rosamond turned to the front room, to stop 
quite surprised. Was it only yesterday that she 
tried that door, firmly fastened by hasp and pad- 
lock? The lock was gone now, the door stood 
open, revealing ample space in the empty closet 
for all the imaginary garments of a little girl’s 
home-making dream. 

“ Funny smell,” observed Oliver, walking in 
and sniffing gingerly. “What is it? I’ve 
smelled something like it before.” 

“ I don’t know,” Rosamond replied, also 
sniffing the faint odor lingering in the closet. 
“ It smells like a drug-store.” 

Oliver shook his head. “ More like a photog- 
rapher’s. What’s that on the window-sill? ” 

Into Rosamond’s mind popped the recollection 
of those odd marks on the soft gray woodwork of 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 75 

her chosen room. She turned toward the win- 
dow, again receiving a surprise, for Oliver had 
not seen the marks but referred to something 
taken from the sill, some odd-looking bits of black 
paper. 

“ This is some paper from a roll of photo- 
graphic film,” he announced gravely. “ They al- 
ways use this thick black stuff.” 

“It vrasn’t here yesterday,” said Rosamond 
solemnly. She was not exactly frightened, — 
for was not Oliver with her? — but it was not 
quite pleasant to think that since her visit the 
day before, somebody else had been in the room, 
some stranger on a strange errand. Again she 
experienced that sudden impression that the 
house itself was unhappy, but this time it seemed 
as though it wanted protection from some evil, 
as well as to be loved. She looked around un- 
easily. 

Oliver’s sharp eyes spied the penciled note on 
the window-sill. “What’s this? Was this here 
yesterday? ” 

“ Yes,” replied Rosamond. “ I remember 
noticing it. Do you think it means anything? ” 

“ Of course,” said Oliver. “ Things always 
mean something. Have you a pencil? ” 


76 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Rosamond shook her head. “ Haven’t you? ” 
she asked. 

Obviously it was the part of a many-pocketed 
boy to be provided with a pencil and Oliver really 
could not find fault with Rosamond’s one pocket 
for containing only a handkerchief and a collec- 
tion of white stones. 

“I don’t happen to have one this minute,” 
he remarked loftily, “ but I don’t need to 
copy this. I can remember and write it down 
later.” 

For a moment he looked silently at the marks 
on the sill, and Rosamond, quite struck by the 
fact that one’s brains can always be impressed 
into service, also bent over to memorize the legend 
scribbled on the wood. If Oliver considered it of 
importance, and perhaps it was, she would re- 
member it too. Certainly something ought to 
be done to make this house feel more contented, 
and the first sensible step in that direction ap- 
peared to be to find out what was wrong with 
it. 

“Somebody must have come here after you 
yesterday,” Oliver remarked as they sauntered 
down-stairs. “Unless you dreamed that closet 
was locked. Did Cousin Angel see it? ” 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 77 

“ She didn’t come in, but it was locked, Oliver ; 
I know it was, because I wanted so much to see 
how big it was.” 

“ Well, all right,” said her brother. “ I won- 
der whether those flashes we saw last night had 
anything to do with its being open to-day. Don’t 
you think yourself that Mr. Armes was over 
here? ” 

“ I think that a man and a dog came over, but 
those footprints don’t prove it was Mr. Armes, 
and Tony isn’t the only dog in Mishannock. Oh, 
Oliver, please don’t ! ” 

Oliver’s glance fell upon the wild roses above 
the fireplace. With one gesture, he swept them 
away. 

“You mustn’t leave these,” he explained, as 
he stooped to pick up one that dropped. “ If 
the man came back and saw them, he would know 
somebody had been here and we’d never stand a 
chance of finding out what was going on nor of 
catching the spy.” 

“ I see,” agreed Rosamond soberly, her heart 
divided, for she wanted the roses to stay, and yet 
Oliver was plainly right in his conclusion. Well, 
when the mystery was solved, she would bring to 
Rainbow a collection of vases, and just for once 


78 RAINBOW ISLAND 

make the house as lovely and fragrant with 
flowers as she wished. 

When they reached the boat, the water had 
risen so that nothing prevented an immediate de- 
parture. Before them the channel lay smooth 
and motionless save for the rhythmic swell and 
heave of the shoreward setting tide. Its surface 
looked oiled, its serenity unbroken by even a 
wavelet. 

Oliver consulted his watch. “ It is only 
eleven,” he said. “Let’s row over to Pumpkin 
and picnic there.” 

Rosamond joyfully agreed. Often had she cast 
desirous glances at Pumpkin, doubtful ones at 
the rough water breaking between the island and 
the shore. To-day, on that sea of glass, the voy- 
age seemed easy and possible. 

“We will both row,” she announced as they 
pushed off. 

Oliver consented. He was still not strong, and 
though the light skiff rowed easily, Rosamond’s 
help made all the difference between enjoyment 
and fatigue. Though a perceptible current set 
inland, due to the under motion of the tide, the 
trip was quickly accomplished and the two were 
soon rowing along the rocky and seemingly in- 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 79 

accessible shore of Pumpkin. Finally a possible 
landing-place presented itself in the shape of a 
tiny beach not two yards wide. 

Safely avoiding some large stones at either 
side, Oliver beached the boat and tied the painter 
to a sharply pointed rock. Then he and Rosa- 
mond climbed the little rise, forming the top of 
Pumpkin and looked around. 

In front, the grassy incline sloped into a cup- 
like hollow, but Pumpkin was mostly rocks, worn 
and smoothed by storm and tide, and stretching 
in every direction into the sea. There was not 
a tree, not a bush, only dried grass and weeds. 

“ Wild strawberries ! ” Rosamond exclaimed, 
discovering that the grass was thickly sown with 
fragrant berries, tasting as delicious as they 
smelled. Oliver, too, ate for a time, and then 
wandered over the island. 

The sun shone hot where Rosamond knelt out 
of reach of the faint sea breeze, but she did not 
mind. Presently her hands were full of long- 
stemmed sprays and she was laying plans to in- 
duce Pearl to risk her life in the Waterwitch , 
lured by visions of wild strawberry- jam. 

“ Oh, Roger ! ” came Oliver’s voice. “ Do 
hurry.” 


8o 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


Rosamond scrambled to her feet and joined 
her brother, who stood on the very top of the 
island, looking down into a bare spot where a 
hole had been dug a yard or more in diameter 
and several feet deep. A rod or so farther east 
was a similar excavation. 

“ Here is where they dug for hidden treasure,” 
he remarked as Rosamond came up. 

His sister gave the hole but a glance, her at- 
tention suddenly attracted by a great number of 
caterpillars on the surrounding grasses. 

“ Look at all these woolly brown bears,” she 
said, reverting to the name of their childhood. 
“ I never saw so many in all my life. I thought 
they came only in spring and fall.” 

“ Perhaps they spend the summers here,” ob- 
served Oliver, with an air of disposing of the 
subject. “How long ago do you suppose this 
hole was dug? I think it was rather recently 
because no grass has grown over it.” 

“Mr. Armes told me that people had looked 
here for Captain Kidd’s treasure,” Rosamond 
replied. 

“Perhaps he dug this himself,” said Oliver 
gravely. “ This is a small island. It ought to 
be possible to dig up the whole top.” 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 81 

“ Mr. Armes thinly tlie treasure was concealed 
in the rocks at low tide. He said it was true 
that a man down this way was lobstering once off 
the rocks at an unusually low tide and stepped 
right into an old iron kettle, full of Spanish gold. 
It was more than ten thousand dollars.” 

Oliver whistled. “Wish that would happen 
to me. But the tide is coming so we can’t ex- 
plore the rocks to-day. Let’s eat.” 

“ Let’s find a nice rock for a table,” suggested 
Rosamond. 

Pumpkin supplied a fine choice of rock tables 
and Rosamond took pleasure in spreading out 
the lunch so carefully packed by Pearl. There 
were tiny biscuits, cut in halves and buttered hot, 
with chopped meat to put between them; there 
were sandwiches of rye bread and peanut butter ; 
there was gingerbread and cheese, and one ther- 
mos-bottle contained ice-cold milk, the other 
lemonade. With the wild strawberries, it was a 
royal feast. Just as they began to eat, a sudden 
noise caught Oliver’s attention, the sound of a 
falling stone. He turned to look behind him. 

“ It is Mr. Armes,” exclaimed Rosamond, rec- 
ognizing the tall figure outlined against the sky. 
“ How did he get here? ” 


82 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Mr. Armes did not see them. He stood with 
his back toward them, looking intently out to 
sea, but Tony Orlando Cape Porpoise rushed over 
the island and came flying to greet the two. 
At his bark, his master turned. 

Oliver scowled but Rosamond welcomed him 
joyfully. 

“ Is it time for luncheon? ” Mr. Armes called 
smilingly. “ May I bring mine and sit at your 
table? ” 

As he spoke, he waved a large boiled lobster, 
and even Oliver was obliged to smile at its red 
legs flapping in the air. From another pocket 
came a packet of sandwiches. His manner was 
so boyishly friendly that Oliver’s antagonism be- 
gan to lessen. He made no objection to Rosa- 
mond’s glad welcome, moved aside to make room 
for their guest and patted Tony’s inquisitive 
head, while watching the dissection of the lob- 
ster. 

Presently he and Rosamond were both eating 
lobster, and sandwiches and gingerbread became 
common property. A bone and a dog-biscuit ap- 
peared from another capacious pocket for Tony, 
and a most harmonious picnic was in progress 
on Pumpkin. 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 83 

“ I have been meaning to come over bere for 
some days,” said Mr. Armes in reply to a query 
from Rosamond. “It was odd that we should 
choose the same morning. Where did you leave 
your boat? ” 

“ On the beach over there,” explained Oliver, 
pointing to the north. 

Mr. Armes looked puzzled. “ But I came in 
there. It is the only place on the island where 
one can land. I did not see it.” 

Oliver bounced to his feet and hurried over the 
top of the island. He came back looking very 
crestfallen. 

“It is gone,” he admitted. “I tied it to a 
pointed rock, and the tide came up over and I 
suppose the rope worked off. The boat is ’way 
over toward the mainland, near Smith’s 
beach.” 

“ It’s all right then,” said Mr. Armes reassur- 
ingly, as he and Rosamond went to look at the 
derelict boat. “ Somebody will pull it up and 
I will take you home from here.” 

“ That boat acts as though it was possessed,” 
grumbled Oliver. “I was sure I tied it so it 
couldn’t get away.” 

“The ways of the tide are marvelous,” said 


84 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Mr. Armes. “ Before coming to Mishannock, I 
was in Nova Scotia, where the rise and fall is 
much greater than here. Once I fastened my 
boat, as I supposed, above high-water-mark, and 
came back to find it serenely floating, with the 
knot six feet under water. I was forced to cut 
the painter. Another day, I left it just pulled 
out of water on a falling tide and when I wanted 
it again, there were some thirty feet of mud flats 
between it and the water. But your skiff is 
quite safe. There, she has grounded, and later 
you can walk over to the beach and get her. 
Lucky she went ashore there and not on the 
rocks.” 

“Did you come in the Secret?’ 9 asked Rosa- 
mond as they returned to the lunch table. 

“ There isn’t wind enough to sail. I rowed 
over to see how Pumpkin looks at high tide. 
The rocks at the eastern end are very picturesque 
as I see them from my sailboat.” 

“ How long ago do you think those treasure- 
holes were dug? ” Oliver inquired abruptly. 

“Not this year. That is all I am certain 
of.” 

“ Do you believe there is any treasure here? ” 
came the next question. 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 85 

“ That is a difficult thing to answer,” said Mr. 
Armes. “ There might be. Anything might 
happen.” 

“ But you don’t really think so,” laughed 
Rosamond, catching a twinkle in his eye. 

“ You see,” Oliver went on, “ this island isn’t 
so big that anybody couldn’t dig all the likely 
places.” 

“ True, but why dig? There are and were 
better places for concealing treasure than the top 
of this especial island.” 

He said nothing more, and Oliver’s thoughts 
turned to the vacant house on Rainbow. 

“ Have you ever been in that house? ” he asked, 
with an abrupt change of subject, noticing the 
direction of Mr. Armes’s gaze. 

“ I have been in it once or twice, and several 
times walked over to sketch it. There is some- 
thing very appealing about that place. I should 
like to buy it and put it in repair and spend a 
summer there. I think it is a house one could 
come to love dearly.” 

Rosamond smiled as she met his eyes. She 
felt exactly that way herself about the lonely 
house on Rainbow. 

“What would you do for water?” asked the 


86 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


practical Oliver. “ There isn’t any now, any 
more than when it was built.” 

“Fifteen years ago, Mishannock was wholly 
dependent upon its wells. Now it has water 
from Sandy Beach. I think it would be possible 
for a clever engineer to carry the town water 
over to Rainbow, through a surface pipe along 
and across the creek channel, perhaps helping 
the pressure by a windmill near the house. Of 
course, this would be practicable only in summer, 
but that is the only time the water would be 
needed.” 

“Wouldn’t that be lovely,” said Rosamond. 
“ Do buy it, Mr. Armes, before anybody else 
thinks how to get water and puts the price 
up.” 

“Nobody is likely to buy it till the war is 
over,” said Mr. Armes rather sadly. 

“ How long do you think the war is going to 
last? ” demanded Oliver. 

“I cannot say,” replied Mr. Armes, who had 
opened his paint-box and was looking thought- 
fully at the colors. Rosamond sat slowly putting 
away what fragments of luncheon remained. 
“ J ust now, with the Germans advancing every 
day, the end looks distant.” 


A PICNIC ON PUMPKIN 87 

“ But who do you think will win? ” asked 
Oliver quickly. 

“There is only one answer to that,” replied 
Mr. Armes gravely. “ The Allies, of course, and 
the United States.” 

Oliver was silent. Rosamond, who supposed 
her brother had some motive in putting this 
question, though she did not know why it was 
asked in precisely that form, stole a quick glance 
at him. Oliver looked puzzled. He was staring 
steadily at Mr. Armes, who, quite unconscious of 
his gaze, continued to wash his pad of paper 
with a wet brush, preparatory to sketching the 
rocks of Pumpkin. 


CHAPTER VII 


IN WHICH OLIVER ASKS A QUESTION 

Aeter luncheon, Oliver and Rosamond left Mr. 
Armes to sketch, and wandered to the eastern 
rocks where they found a fascinating pool lined 
with green, brown and pink seaweed, and most 
pleasingly inhabited by shrimps, snails and crabs. 
Over this they bent attentive heads. 

“ I am certain now that Mr. Armes isn’t an 
American,” Oliver began importantly. “ I asked 
him who he thought would win the war, just on 
purpose, and did you notice how he answered? ” 

Rosamond considered. “He said he thought 
we would win,” she replied after a moment. 

“ That,” retorted Oliver triumphantly, “ is pre- 
cisely what he did not say. It is what he would 
have said if he were an American. What he said 
was that he thought the Allies and the United 
States would win.” 

Rosamond looked so disconcerted that Oliver’s 
feeling of superiority was short-lived. 

88 


OLIVER ASKS A QUESTION 89 

“Never mind, Roger,” lie said consolingly. 
“ Of course you didn’t know what I had in mind 
nor why I asked that. You can see that if he were 
an American, it would be much more natural for 
him to say ‘ we ’ just as you did. But he is nicer 
than I thought he was. If he is a spy, he is a 
gentlemanly spy and I should really like him if 
it wasn’t for his spying. When we go back I am 
going to ask him another question and we will 
both watch him while he answers.” 

“ What are you going to ask? ” queried Rosa- 
mond, but Oliver only shook his head. “ You’ll 
know when the time comes,” was all he would 
say, and Rosamond’s attention was presently dis- 
tracted by discovery of a veritable mine of snail- 
shells. For long seasons the water must have 
washed in and out between two out-cropping 
rocks to wear those shells, naturally dark-colored, 
to so chalky a white. Rubbed against one an- 
other and over the gravel, every trace of their 
original hue had disappeared, and they gleamed 
white like sun-bleached bone. 

Having filled her handkerchief with these 
ghostly treasures, Rosamond rejoined her brother, 
who was watching a boat come out from Mis- 
hannock. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


90 

“ That is Cap’n Mitch with the Shark ” he an- 
nounced. “ Wonder where he is going? I meant 
to run down and find out if he was doing any- 
thing this afternoon, but we got started on the 
picnic.” 

Eosamond looked sober. Her own day had 
been so perfect that she did not like to think 
Oliver would rather be elsewhere. Would he 
really prefer to be in the Shark than picnicking 
on Pumpkin? 

“ I suppose he is taking supplies somewhere,” 
her brother went on. “ Wonder whether he can 
see us here. Let’s come back now and pump 
Armes.” 

When they came in sight of the artist, he had 
put aside his sketch and was lying lazily at full 
length in the dry grass just below the top of 
the slope, but not entirely idle, for with his 
powerful glasses he was looking along the hori- 
zon. 

“ Pretty little sailboat out there,” he observed 
as the two came beside him. “ Curious super- 
structure she has on her deck. Looks as though 
she had a cargo of wooden boxes.” 

For a moment his scrutiny rested on the Shark, 
making a most unnecessary noise with her muffler 


OLIVER ASKS A QUESTION 91 

cut out, and then he handed the glasses to Rosa- 
mond. 

“ Cap’n Mitch has a sailcloth spread over his 
load,” she commented after a moment. 

“ She is carrying a big cargo,” said Oliver. 
“ See how low she rides. She’s a dandy boat, the 
Shark. Have you ever been out in her? ” 

Mr. Armes looked up to see whether the ques- 
tion was addressed to him. “ No, I haven’t had 
that pleasure,” he replied. “ I was unfortunate 
enough to offend Cap’n Mitch by obtaining a 
sailboat in Love joy instead of renting his, so he 
hasn’t any use for either me or Tony.” 

Rosamond glanced at Oliver. This simple 
statement seemed to explain very satisfactorily 
all the slurring comments Cap’n Mitch made 
about Mr. Armes. Oliver looked slightly im- 
pressed. 

“ I guess Cap’n Mitch is a good hater,” he ob- 
served. “ Isn’t it hot ! Cousin Angel will have 
a warm time in Trafton. I hope she gets that 
calendar of hers straightened out, for it’s as bad 
as a Chinese puzzle. Do you like puzzles? ” he 
asked of Mr. Armes. 

“ That depends,” was the quiet answer. “ Yes, 
on the whole, I think I do. If you give the word 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


92 

a broad meaning, I am quite sure I enjoy trying 
to solve a problem.” 

“May I take your pencil a minute?” asked 
Oliver. “ Thank you.” 

On the back of an old letter he wrote rapidly 
a combination of letters and figures. “ Does that 
mean anything to you? ” he inquired, presenting 
the envelope, with a side glance at his sister. 

Mr. Armes took the offered paper and read it 
aloud. “ B — 45, D — L, P — E.” The two young 
people, watching closely, saw not the slightest 
change of expression on his face. 

“ It doesn’t mean anything to me,” he said 
after a moment’s scrutiny. “ Is it supposed to 
have a meaning? What does one do with it — 
what is the game? ” 

“ I don’t know either,” said Oliver frankly, 
driven by the need of explanation to simple 
truth. “ I want to know what it means because 
I found it in such a queer place. It was written 
with a pencil on the window-sill of the up- 
stairs east room in that house over on Rain- 
bow.” 

At this statement, Mr. Armes’s expression cer- 
tainly changed, and in a rather striking manner. 
Before, he had looked politely interested, but 



Mr. Armes took the offered paper and read it aloud 

“B-45, D-L, P-E ."—Page 92. 

































































































OLIVER ASKS A QUESTION 93 

suddenly the interest, so to speak, became alive, 
just as though a light flashed up behind his 
eyes. 

“ Written on the window-sill?” he repeated. 
“ Perhaps it is a builder’s memorandum.” 

“ No carpenter would use a finished window- 
sill to write on,” objected Oliver. “ It was done 
after the house was built, because it was on top 
of the stain.” 

“ Which window was it? ” asked Mr. Armes, 
still intent on the problem. 

“ The one looking out to sea.” 

A silence followed this statement. Having 
given the note prolonged study, Mr. Armes 
glanced meditatively at the lonely house on dis- 
tant Rainbow. Even to Oliver’s suspicious eyes, 
the combination of letters and figures plainly 
meant nothing to him. 

“ This seems a puzzle without a clue,” he said 
at length. “As I said at first, it may be merely 
the memorandum of a builder, but it seems im- 
probable that he would choose so conspicuous 
a place to scribble as the sill of the chief bed- 
room.” 

“ Somebody tried to rub it off,” said Oliver 
.judicially, “which would bear out that theory. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


94 

But it wouldn’t rub, only messed the wood and 
the stain.” 

Mr. Armes gave him a curiously intent look. 
“ I can’t interpret,” he said quietly, “ but I’ll 
copy it into my note-book and perhaps some day 
I can read a meaning into it.” 

“ It must mean something,” said Oliver. 

“ Oh, naturally,” replied Mr. Armes, pronounc- 
ing the last word in a sort of choked way, that 
made it sound as though he started to say some- 
thing else. 

Off Love joy, the Shark gave a warning toot and 
turned around Rainbow. At the same moment 
a wind came up out of the sea, instantly break- 
ing its glassy surface into countless wavelets, 
which quickly grew into waves. From the look 
of the water and the rising wind, Oliver and 
Rosamond might be fortunate in having help to 
row ashore. 

“What are you going to do with the snail- 
shells?” asked Mr. Armes as Rosamond spread 
her collection on a rock with a view to rejecting 
any that were chipped or imperfect. 

“ I don’t know. They are pretty, so I picked 
them up. White stones are very scarce here at 
Mishannock, so I am collecting all I find of those. 


OLIVER ASKS A QUESTION 95 

I wish the snails were good for something. 
There are such quantities of live ones every- 
where.” 

“ In France and Italy people eat them,” said 
Mr. Armes, enjoying the look of disgust which 
this statement brought to Rosamond’s face. 

“ How horrid ! ” she commented. 

“ Why? When you are used to the idea, why 
is it any more disagreeable than eating oysters 
or clams? They live in shells in the sea and so 
do snails.” 

Rosamond considered gravely. “ I suppose 
it isn’t any worse,” she admitted. Then she 
asked the question already on Oliver’s lips. 
“ Have you ever eaten snails? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” replied Mr. Armes. “ Snail salad 
is a common dish in the south of France, and I 
have also seen it served in a certain part of Eng- 
land.” 

Mr. Armes was again examining the horizon 
through his glasses and did not notice the look 
exchanged by his companions. “ By the way, 
did you say your cousin is not at home?” he 
asked as he turned the lenses on Mishannock. 

“ Gone to Trafton,” replied Oliver, “ and a nice 
hot job she will find it. Pearl went with her.” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


9 6 

“ Then there is nobody at home just now? ” 

“ Not a soul,” Oliver answered. 

Mr. Armes started to speak, and then shut his 
lips as though it was of no especial use to say 
more, but he looked long and earnestly at the 
Jarvis house. From distant Pumpkin, he dis- 
tinctly saw a woman emerge from the supposedly 
vacant house, and go down over the sea-wall. 
It would do no good to speak of it to the children, 
and very likely it was somebody bringing fish or 
berries, who had walked into the kitchen in 
search of Pearl. 


CHAPTER VIII 


IN WHICH MISHANNOCK BECOMES FAMOUS 

Four days later, Mishannock, from being a 
tiny isolated Maine hamlet, of interest only to a 
few fishermen, one or two summer sojourners, 
and hardly known in print outside the post-office 
list, became a name spoken by the multitude, 
figuring upon the front page of city newspapers. 
At one bound it attained fame. The whole 
United States consulted atlases to learn its exact 
whereabouts, and like birds of ill-omen, a flock 
of reporters descended upon the village. 

Notoriety came to Mishannock, unasked, un- 
sought, straight from open sea. That lovely 
summer morning, while faint glowing streaks in 
the east indicated the coming dawn, Rosamond 
woke to hear excited shouts from the channel. 
Sounds came not of motor-boats alone, but of 
oars, and hoarse voices calling. As a rule, the 
fishing-dories went quietly to sea, with only the 
legitimate noise of motor or rowlocks, the dull 
97 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


98 

thud of a dropped oar or the flap of a swinging 
sail. What could this unusual commotion mean? 

Oliver, too, was aroused, and in a few moments 
Rosamond heard him leave the house, but she 
was really too sleepy to dress and go out, even 
if Cousin Angel would permit. Careless as she 
seemed to outsiders about the children entrusted 
to her care, Angelica really did attend to what 
she personally considered essential, and she would 
never have allowed her little cousin to go over to 
the fishing village at half -past three in the morn- 
ing. It was all very well for the boy Oliver, but 
there were points upon which Angelica, despite 
her advanced views on the proper position of 
women, was hopelessly conservative. Had she 
herself felt any inclination to investigate the dis- 
turbance, she would have done so at any hour 
without scruple, but Rosamond was another 
matter. 

As dawn broke, Oliver came back, invading 
Rosamond’s room, where he perched on the win- 
dow-seat and with his first words startled her 
into alert attention. 

“ Nice doings down in the village,” he began. 
“Where’s Angel? She ought to hear this.” 

From her room, Angelica caught the words, 


MISHANNOCK FAMOUS 99 

and appeared, wrapped in a rose-pink kimono, 
with all her lovely brown hair floating over her 
shoulders. She cuddled on the foot of Rosa- 
mond’s bed to hear the tale. 

“What is the excitement, Ollie?” she asked 
sleepily, yet with interest, for Oliver’s face be- 
trayed strong emotion of some kind. Indeed, it 
seemed rather hard for him to speak. 

“ Some men have come ashore,” he said slowly, 
“ men from a fishing-schooner sunk by a German 
submarine ’way out at sea. They let the crew 
take the boats but would not give them either 
food or water. They have been forty-eight hours 
reaching land.” 

“ The brutes ! ” exclaimed Angelica. “ How 
cruel ! Oliver, did you see them? ” 

Oliver nodded, then choked as he went on. 
“ They could hardly talk, their throats were so 
swollen from lack of water. They had to be 
lifted from the boat and carried ashore. Bill 
Joe met the boat off the point and towed it in. 
They had stopped rowing.” 

For a moment there was silence in the room, 
shocked silence on Angelica’s part, choked, so far 
as Oliver was concerned, — with a wide-eyed little 
girl who buried her face in her pillow to cry. 


IOO 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ To think that men can do such things/’ said 
Angelica indignantly. “When women vote, these 
crimes won’t occur, for women will never per- 
mit another war.” 

“ They carried them into cottages,” Oliver went 
on, “ all five, and gave them hot drinks and put 
them to bed. They think they will come out of 
it all right, but there were more men in a second 
boat and nobody knows where that is. They lost 
sight of it the first night. The submarine sunk 
a lot of the fishing fleet. Of course they were 
unarmed, so it just came up among them and 
didn’t even use torpedoes, but blew the schooners 
up with bombs. The captain of this one is with 
the men who came ashore, and he says the Ella 
Rose was everything he owned in the world.” 

“ Something will be done about that ” said An- 
gelica energetically. “ That is the least of the 
evil, for charitable people all over the country 
will help him buy a new one, even if the govern- 
ment doesn’t, which it ought. I suppose that sub- 
marine is still out there sinking defenseless ves- 
sels. What is our navy doing? 

“ Don’t cry, Rosy,” she added soothingly. “ It 
doesn’t do any good. Can we help those men, 
Oliver? Is there anything they need? ” 


MISHANNOCK FAMOUS ioi 


“Everybody in the village is crazy to help; 
people are falling all over themselves to do some- 
thing. But there is one thing yon might do, I 
think, if you wanted to. I suppose you would 
not like to take the captain up to town in our 
car? He wants to report to some govern- 
ment official as soon as he is able. Ours is the 
best and the fastest car in Mishannock,” he 
added. 

“ Most certainly I will drive the captain up,” 
said Angelica firmly, giving her hair a belligerent 
twist and rising to her feet as though prepared 
to start at once, a most captivating chauffeur in 
a pink dressing-gown. 

“ The captain is in bed at Bill Joe’s, where Mr. 
Armes stays. I will go back and leave word that 
you’ll take him to town when he feels like it. 
That may not be till late afternoon, for he was 
about all in.” 

Though in all probability her services would 
not be needed for hours to come, Angelica went 
away to dress, her head held high like an aveng- 
ing goddess. Oliver still sat on Kosamond’s 
window-seat, watching the sun come up out of 
the sea in a sheet of gold and flame. His face 
was yet pale with the shock received, but it also 


102 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


bore a curiously determined expression. Oliver 
was thinking hard. 

“ I feel so sorry for those poor men / 7 sobbed 
Rosamond from her pillow. 

“ The men are all right, or they will be / 7 re- 
plied her brother. “ Of course, you couldn’t 
stand anything like that, but sailors are tough. 
They’ll be as fresh as paint after a few hours 7 
sleep. What I want to know is whether those 
flashes we saw that night had anything to do with 
the submarine’s coming. To say the least, it 
looks suspicious.” 

“We might ask Cousin Angel what she thinks,” 
suggested Rosamond, drying her eyes and com- 
forted by Oliver’s assurances about the ship- 
wrecked mariners. 

“ Cousin Angel ! 77 scoffed Oliver. “ I’m fond 
of Angel, and really she’d be some girl if she had 
a little more sense about woman suffrage and 
men and all that stuff, but she would not be as 
much help in a thing like this as a kitten. I’d 
sooner consult a kitten.” 

Again Oliver lapsed into deep thought. Rosa- 
mond, her tears dried, lay watching the wonder- 
ful fleecy clouds of the sunrise sky. It was hard 
to realize that only a few hours ago those weary, 


MISHANNOCK FAMOUS 103 

desperate, weakened men had come in from that 
sea of beauty and peace. 

“ I wonder whether anybody will let me hire 
a motor-boat,” said Oliver after a long silence. 

“ Goodness ! ” said Kosamond, quite startled 
by the suggestion. “ Could you run one? ” 

“ I should worry. I can run the car as well 
as Angel, only I can’t have a license until I am 
sixteen. I guess I could manage one of these 
two-horse-power engines most of the fishermen 
have. The trouble is to get any one to let me 
take one alone. For I want to go alone, that is, 
without any man along. I’ll take you, if I can 
get a boat,” he added generously. 

“ I don’t believe Cousin Angel will let us go 
alone in a motor-boat,” objected Rosamond. 

“ Cousin Angel won’t know anything about it. 
She will be gone to town with her captain.” 

“ Cap’n Mitch will take you anywhere,” began 
Rosamond. 

“ I know it,” interrupted Oliver, “ but it will 
spoil everything to have a man along. I want to 
find out something and I can’t have anybody 
round listening while I ask questions.” 

“ Couldn’t you go ashore and ask out of hear- 
ing?” 


io 4 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“No, I couldn’t,” said Oliver abruptly. “I 
can’t explain, Roger ; it is too important. I shall 
have to think out what can be done, but if I can 
manage, I’ll let you go, too,” he added as he left 
the room. 

Rosamond got out of bed and went to the win- 
dow, where she stood for a moment looking over 
the sea. To the left, Mishannock light was yet 
shining, but as she watched, its bright eye shut 
for the day. The fishing fleet still lay at anchor, 
for there was too much of importance and in- 
terest going on in the village of Mishannock, 
thrilled to its very hearthstones, for the men to 
tend lobster-pots or seines that morning. 

“ How dreadful if a submarine should come 
up right in sight,” thought Rosamond fearfully. 
With a sense of relief she looked at the reefs 
showing with the half -tide, thought of the coast- 
guard over on Morgan Island, of the patrolling 
boats, the sea-planes that passed each day. Mis- 
hannock seemed very lovely and beautiful, too 
beautiful to be desecrated by the cruelties of a 
crafty foe. 

With almost the first rays of that rising sun, 
the news spread from Mishannock, first to Love- 
joy, whence it sped by telegraph and telephone to 


MISHANNOCK FAMOUS 105 

larger towns. Mishannock arose amazed from 
its breakfast tables to find itself already the 
centre of public interest. Had Angelica’s offer 
of the car not already been accepted, it would not 
have been needed, for reporters came thick and 
fast in machines of varied make and age, and all 
would compete for the honor of carrying Cap- 
tain Thompson to town. 

If Angelica had possessed less poise and less 
real desire to do something for these unfortunate 
men, she would have been disconcerted by the 
crowd outside Bill Joe’s house when she came 
for the captain. One man alone was conspicuous 
by his absence and that was Mr. Armes. Imme- 
diately upon learning of the affair he vanished 
from the house, and according to his landlady, 
Maria Joe, had not since shown hoof nor 
hair. Except by Rosamond, his absence passed 
without comment. She asked Maria Joe where 
he was and thereupon elicited the above an- 
swer. 

Oliver had thought to some purpose that 
morning. His proposal to rent and run a 
motor-boat out to sea was absurd, as he very 
well knew, and his suggestion of it to Rosamond 
mere boasting. There existed a solemn promise 


106 RAINBOW ISLAND 

made to his father, now in distant France, that 
he would go neither sailing nor motor-boating, 
nor permit Rosamond to do so, without the pres- 
ence of an able-bodied man, said man to be thor- 
oughly skilled in the science of his profession of 
seafaring. Therefore, it was difficult to think 
of a way to keep his promise and yet secure the 
privacy truly essential to his plan. But Oliver 
had inherited some of the intelligence and in- 
genuity which gave his father so high a stand- 
ing in his work. Before noon, the problem 
was solved to his entire satisfaction. Had 
Angelica inquired, which she did not, what 
the children meant to do that afternoon, he was 
prepared with a plan that would stand stern 
scrutiny. 

When Angelica, looking uncommonly pretty 
and uncommonly severe, had driven off in the big 
car, with Captain Thompson beside her, and in 
the tonneau three other fishermen, apparently 
quite uncomfortable in hot, thick, ill-cut clothes 
and celluloid collars, that somehow changed them 
from picturesque seafarers into rather common 
men, Oliver drew Rosamond aside from the 
crowd. 

“ Get your sweater,” he directed, “ and bring 


MISHANNOCK FAMOUS 107 

mine, too. I am going down to the wharves. In 
about ten minutes I will pick you up at our sea- 
wall steps.” 

Rosamond delayed for no idle questions. It 
was enough that Oliver had a plan and that the 
plan included her. Before the appointed time, 
she was on the steps but saw no boat coming. 
If Oliver meant to use the Waterwitch , some 
moments would pass before he could arrive. So 
intent was Rosamond on w T atching for the trim 
little white skiff that she did not notice the gray 
old power-dory poking her nose around the near- 
est fish-house. Not until it headed directly for 
her did she recognize Oliver in the stern. Near 
the engine stood a stooped old man with a long 
white beard. 

Rosamond stared in surprise. Oliver, who had 
condemned the comparatively immaculate Shark 
as unfit for her occupancy, was approaching in 
a battered old slate-colored dory, with an engine 
wheezing desperately at every puff, and an occa- 
sional spasmodic hiccough shaking its very vitals. 
Even from a distance, Rosamond could see old 
sponges and battered tin cans swishing around in 
the bilge-water of the bottom. But Rosamond 
was game. Not a look of dismay crossed her 


108 RAINBOW ISLAND 

face as the Grace, which had surely become a 
dis- Grace , came up to the steps. 

Oliver looked apologetic as he helped Rosa- 
mond aboard. The old man gave her a welcom- 
ing grin but did not speak as he swung the dory 
into the channel. 

“ Look out for the bilge-water,” warned Oliver 
while Rosamond curled her feet up on one of the 
seats. “This isn’t a very nice boat but I had 
to take it.” 

“ Were all the others busy? ” asked the mysti- 
fied Rosamond. She had not seen a single 
power-dory leave Mishannock all day long. 

“ No,” said Oliver rather impatiently. “There 
were plenty that were cleaner but I had to take 
this because I want to find out something no- 
body can hear and Cap’n Len is stone deaf.” 

“I see,” gasped Rosamond, quite convinced 
that no one but Oliver was clever enough to think 
of such a solution. 

“ I have to write on his slate what I want him 
to do and where to go,” her brother explained. 

“ Where are we going? ” asked Rosamond, with 
a glance at Cap’n Len, who looked back with 
pleasant smiling blue eyes, the far-sighted eyes 
of the men who go down to the sea in ships. 


MISHANNOCK FAMOUS 109 

“ To Morgan Island, the outer side, if it isn’t 
too rough.” 

Rosamond looked disturbed. “Let’s not go 
outside,” she said. “ Won’t this side do as well? 
You can’t land.” 

“ I know that,” said her brother, “ but I can’t 
tell till I get there whether this side of the island 
will do. You aren’t afraid of that submarine, 
are you? It couldn’t and wouldn’t come so close 
to shore.” 

Rosamond wasn’t so sure. She thought any 
possibility quite within the powers of that merci- 
less under-water terror. 


CHAPTER IX 


IN WHICH ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 

Morgan Island looked extremely pretty and 
picturesque as the Grace puffily traversed its 
rocky shore, where far-stretching reefs lay hidden 
by the tide. At the northern end stood Mis- 
hannock light, a tall round white tower with a 
little black top, looking for all the world like the 
black head of an insect. The keeper and his 
family lived in an attractive wooden house, also 
painted white, and connected with the tower by 
a long passage, well illuminated by windows. 
This, Rosamond supposed, was for use in storms, 
but Oliver informed her that it also enabled the 
keeper to reach his light should there be a thick 
fog. The distance from house to tower was short, 
and it seemed incredible that any fog could render 
its crossing dangerous or even difficult. To be- 
lieve in fog, anyway, was hard, when each day 
dawned so wonderfully clear. 

As they followed the sheltered side of Morgan, 
110 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS hi 


Rosamond glanced at Oliver, hoping that he 
would find whatever he sought and would not go 
out on the exposed ocean. But Oliver stood in 
the dory, watching the island, evidently without 
finding what he hoped to see. 

“ We shall have to go on the other side,” he 
announced briefly and took Cap’n Len’s slate to 
inform him of this decision. 

“ Plenty smooth enough,” said the old man, as 
he read Oliver’s hasty scrawl. “ The Grace will 
take it easy.” 

It was not fear of rough water that made Rosa- 
mond shrink a little as they rounded the southern 
end of the island and turned their course. She 
was a good sailor, a quality not required on this 
day of gentle breeze and smooth sea. Hardly a 
white-cap was now visible where often the surf 
piled high. Of course, Oliver was probably right 
in thinking that the submarine would not appear 
so near land, but Rosamond’s idea of the powers 
of U-boats was vague. She was certain only 
that she desired nothing on earth less than to be 
taken prisoner by one. 

Presently, on the ocean side of the island, 
Oliver caught sight of a white-clad figure, walk- 
ing a patrol. He reached for Cap’n Len’s slate. 


1 1 2 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ Want to go within hailin’ distance of the 
guard? ” inquired the old fisherman, having read 
the message. “ You know you can’t land.” 

“ I know it,” wrote Oliver. “ I want to speak 
to him.” 

“I’ll soon lay you alongside,” replied Cap’n 
Len, putting the Grace’s bow in the proper direc- 
tion. 

The coast-guard gave the dory but a glance 
until it came as close to shore as rocks permitted. 
Thinking the children meant to land, he stepped 
toward them, which was precisely what Oliver 
hoped would happen. 

“ Nobody allowed ashore,” he said pleasantly. 

“ That’s all right,” replied Oliver, standing up 
and speaking eagerly, “ but you can talk to me a 
minute, can’t you? ” 

“ That depends on what you’ve got to say,” re- 
plied the guard with an engaging grin. He was 
a boy about twenty, with a frank, attractive face, 
and he gave Kosamond a very pleasant smile. 
She returned it, wondering whether he had a 
little sister at home. 

“ It’s important,” Oliver began. “ You know 
those submarined fishermen that came in to-day? 
I think something queer is going on over at Mis- 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 1 13 

liannock. The other night about two in the 
morning, my sister and I saw flashes out at sea 
as though somebody was exchanging signals. I 
thought the authorities ought to know, and that 
perhaps the coast-guard were the right people to 
tell.” 

“Ask your pilot to put you alongside the 
wharf,” said the guard, who had listened atten- 
tively to this statement. “ I’ll report to head- 
quarters and let you know.” 

Oliver nodded his satisfaction. Cap’n Len, 
who looked on with curiosity, bent over the slate 
to read the next directions. In three minutes 
the Grace approached the little pier, where an- 
other guard hailed them, repeating the admoni- 
tion about landing. 

Oliver explained that they were waiting for a 
report to be made to the commanding officer, and 
on hearing this, the Grace was permitted to lay 
her bow alongside the wharf, upon which two 
armed guards were pacing. 

They had not long to wait. Shortly, a young 
man in ensign’s uniform emerged from one of the 
tents to approach the pier. Something about 
him struck Oliver as familiar, and he entirely 
forgot the respectful salute he had meant to give 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


1 14 

this officer. Instead, he suddenly greeted him 
with a most irreverent shout of “ Hi, there ! Jack 
Wilbur ! ” 

The young ensign looked surprised, but was too 
much of a boy himself and too new to the uniform 
he wore so proudly to resent the familiarity. 

“ Oliver Jarvis, where did you drop from? 
Hello, Rosy. What on earth are you kids doing 
here? And what is this cock-and-bull story the 
guard says you have brought? ” 

“ Say, Jack/’ demanded Oliver, “ are you boss- 
ing this island and the patrol? ” 

“ For about two hours only,” replied Ensign 
Wilbur with a laugh. “ The skipper has gone 
ashore and in his absence I’m senior officer.” 

“ I hadn’t an idea you were here,” said Oliver, 
so pleased to meet a boy from his own home city 
that his errand w T ent completely out of his head. 
“ Don’t you ever have any time off? Couldn’t 
you come over to Mishannock? That is our 
house on the point.” 

“ You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll come the 
very next leave I get,” said Jack emphatically. 
“Who is with you over there, your mother? 
I’d like to see her again.” 

“No,” said Rosamond eagerly, “just Cousin 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 115 

Angel, but shell be glad to see you. Do come 
soon.” 

“ Oh,” said Jack, with a little whistle, “ that 
cousin of yours who is such a looker and so com- 
pletely off her head about suffrage? Lucky for 
her she is so pretty. I reckon that’s what fetches 
the converts.” 

“ Jack, won’t you let us come ashore? ” begged 
Rosamond. “ I’m crazy to see the inside of your 
tent.” 

“ Sorry,” said the young ensign, “ but orders 
are mighty strict about landing. I wish I could, 
Rosy, but it’s impossible. That tent contains a 
board floor, two cots, two trunks, and very little 
else. But it’s good to see somebody from home. 
Are you down this way for the summer? ” 

“ Yes,” said Oliver, “ and really, Jack, some- 
thing queer is going on at Mishannock.” 

Oliver stopped, for Ensign Wilbur’s eyes 
traveled in a very meaning manner to the old 
skipper of the Grace , who occasionally glanced 
from the white-clad figure on shore to the chil- 
dren in the boat. 

“ He’s as deaf as a post,” replied Oliver, lower- 
ing his voice in a ridiculously unnecessary 
manner. “ That’s why I hired his dirty old dory, 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


1 16 

so I could tell what’s going on without anybody 
from Mishannock knowing about it. I have to 
write on his slate anything I want him to do. 
I’ll explain that we live on the same street and 
then he’ll think we came on purpose to see you.” 

“ Good idea,” said Ensign Wilbur, sitting down 
on the edge of the wharf, while Oliver wrote the 
explanation for Cap’n Len. 

“ Talk as long as you like,” said the old man. 
“ Me and the Grace is in no hurry.” 

“He thinks we came just to see you,” said 
Oliver as Cap’n Len took out his pipe and to- 
bacco. “ That is splendid, because now if any- 
body asks him why we wanted to come here, he 
will tell them we had a friend in the coast-guard 
and that will satisfy everybody.” 

“ Good stuff,” said Jack. “ Well, Ollie, have 
you been seeing things at night? ” 

Oliver began his story and was soon gratified 
to find he had Ensign Wilbur’s full attention. 

“ Now, what do you think? ” he ended. “Four 
days later these men come in from a submarined 
schooner.” 

“ Of course, in time of war, no suspicious cir- 
cumstance ought to pass without investigation, 
and it does look fishy. But it is possible that 



“Jack, something queer is going on at Mishannock ."—Page 115, 


























ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 117 

those signals passed between boats of the patrol, 
or even between a boat and the guard here. I 
can’t tell till the old man gets back and lets me 
know whether anything of the kind took place 
that night. I was off duty myself. Is there any 
person or persons in Mishannock whom you have 
reason to suspect? ” 

Oliver hesitated and Rosamond looked trou- 
bled. “ I don’t know,” he replied at length. 
“ There is a man who calls himself an artist ” 

“He is one, Oliver,” burst out Rosamond. 
“ He paints beautifully.” 

“ I’ve no objection to his painting all day if he 
likes,” said Oliver impatiently. “ The point is 
that he wanders around all night. You know 
yourself, Rosamond, that he was out the very 
night we saw the flashes, because just afterwards 
Tony ran through our garden. Tony is his dog,” 
he explained to Ensign Wilbur. 

“ Do you know of his being out other nights? ” 
asked the young officer. 

“ Yes,” said Oliver. “ Other people say so. 
And he was over on Rainbow Island that night.” 
Oliver’s thoughts turned to the house of mystery. 
It did not take him long to tell that story. 

“ You did not yourself see the locked closet? ” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


1 1 8 

asked Jack gravely. While Oliver talked, lie had 
made several notes. 

“ Only Eosamond did, but she is sure it was 
locked the day before.” 

“ I know it was,” declared Eosamond, “but 
Jack, I don’t believe Mr. Amies is a spy. He 
is ever so nice and kind and good to me.” 

“ I don’t doubt it,” said Jack, smiling a little. 
It was quite possible, he thought, for even a 
villain of a rather deep dye to show to little Eosa- 
mond Jarvis the best and gentlest side of his 
nature. “Was there anything else suspicious 
about the house? ” he asked. 

“ Yes,” said Oliver thoughtfully, “ there was 
a queer smell in the closet that had been locked, 
a chemical sort of odor like a photographer’s, 
and I picked up a bit of thick black paper like 
that wrajiped around a roll of camera film, and, — 
oh, yes — there were some penciled marks on the 
window-sill.” 

Jack made notes of all this. “ Well,” he said, 
putting up his memorandum book, “ you did the 
right thing in reporting, Ollie, even if it doesn’t 
amount to anything. But why didn’t you go up 
to town ; why did you think the coast-guard was 
the authority to tell? ” 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 119 

“ It was happening on the water and it was 
easier to get a boat and come over here. You 
see,” Oliver admitted with mortification, “I 
can’t drive the car alone because I’m not sixteen, 
so Angel would have to go along, and it was no 
use to get her mixed up in it. And since we 
found you here, it’s been much easier to explain. 
You think there may be something in it? ” 

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “We receive 
about ten spy reports every week, but each is 
investigated. I have the impression, though, 
that we were told of this man Armes before. 
That makes me think perhaps something shady 
is really going on.” 

“ Who will investigate? You? ” asked Oliver 
with interest. 

“ Oh, no, we don’t do any of it. We turn the 
reports over to the secret service and often that’s 
all we ever know. There was a curious case a 
while ago that I chanced to hear about. A cer- 
tain Mrs. Wiswall was going to Trafton on the 
interurban trolley. Directly in front of her sat 
a woman who kept feeling of her back hair. It 
seemed as though the pins stuck into her head or 
her hair was uncomfortable in some way. At 
any rate, she kept putting up her hand and fuss- 


120 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


ing with it so often that it attracted Mrs. Wis- 
wall’s attention. It happened that Mrs. W. 
had once been a manicurist and so she was accus- 
tomed to notice people’s hands. All of a sudden 
it struck her that this hand feeling of the 
hair wasn’t a woman’s hand at all, but a 
man’s ! ” 

Rosamond gave an exclamation. Cold shivers 
ran down her spine. 

“ Oh, nothing much happened, Rosy,” said En- 
sign Wilbur, noticing her involuntary shudder. 
“ Mrs. Wiswall slid along to the end of her seat 
and took a good look at the person in front. 
From her clothes you wouldn’t have suspected 
anything queer, but when you once got the idea 
that she was a man, — I have my pronouns 
frightfully mixed, but I guess you’ll under- 
stand, — it was easy enough to see that something 
was wrong. Mrs. Wiswall went to the rear of 
the car and told the conductor what she sus- 
pected, and he took a look and thought so him- 
self. He asked Mrs. W. for her name and ad- 
dress in case she was wanted for a witness, and 
at one of those telephone-posts by a siding, he 
sent word ahead to the police in the next town. 
Mrs. W. left the car before they reached it, and 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 121 


didn’t suppose that she would ever hear anything 
more about the affair. She didn’t hear exactly 
what happened, but some weeks later a letter 
came from Washington, thanking her in the 
name of the President for the patriotic service 
she had rendered to her country.” 

“ So it was a man? ” asked Oliver eagerly. 

“ One could infer as much, and of course no 
man, even in times of peace, is masquerading as 
a woman for any good purpose. It is probable 
that he was an enemy alien. But I am quite sure, 
Ollie, that Armes has been reported by somebody 
else, and if that is the case, each fresh bit of 
evidence is of importance. I’ll tell the old man, 
and let him know who you are and perhaps later 
you may hear something. I have to go back to 
my work now, but I’m jolly glad to have seen 
you both.” 

“ Come over as soon as you can,” said the chil- 
dren in unison. 

“That I will. Rosy, do you ever make any 
fudge? ” 

He spoke in so comically appealing a voice 
that Rosamond laughed in delight. 

“ I’ll make you some, Jack. Pearl saves every 
grain of sugar, but I’m sure she’ll let me have 


122 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


it for that. Let us know when you are coming 
and I’ll have it ready.” 

“Come to dinner or breakfast or anything,” 
added Oliver. “ There’s always enough to eat 
and Angel won’t mind. She may not even notice 
you are there.” 

“I’ll see that she does notice,” said Ensign 
Wilbur grimly. “ She’ll sit up and pay atten- 
tion when I present myself as open to conviction 
on the subject of votes for women.” 

Cap’n Len did not need to be told that the chil- 
dren were ready to leave. It was easy to guess 
from the salute of the young officer, a salute this 
time returned most ceremoniously by Oliver. 
The patrol on the wharf also saluted as the Grace 
began her wheezy puffing and moved slowly away 
from the pier. Just as she rounded the end of 
the island, a big black steamer came in toward 
Love joy, escorted by a funny little gray war-ship, 
rushing fussily ahead or falling behind for no 
apparent reason. With a splash the steamer 
dropped anchor and blew her whistle loudly. 

“ That’s the lighthouse-tender,” said Cap’n 
Len, noticing the eager looks the children were 
casting at the stranger. “ She’s the Goldenrod, 
and she travels round the Maine coast leavin’ 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 123 

supplies for the different lighthouses. Travels 
closer inshore now, but still they send along a 
little mosquito war-vessel to take care of her.” 

In a moment a launch put out from the island, 
manned by some of the coast-guard, to bring 
ashore whatever the Goldenrod might have for 
them. Either the transferring was done by 
many hands, or the tender made frequent visits, 
for scarcely half an hour later, when the Grace 
was leaving Oliver and Rosamond at their sea- 
wall steps, the tender weighed anchor, saluted 
again, turned in a long slow curve and went out 
to join the little miniature battle-ship, which was 
raging impatiently up and down before the 
entrance to Love joy harbor like an excited water- 
bug. Oliver ran into the house to get the glasses 
and look at the guns on her deck. 

“ Where are they? ” he demanded, not finding 
the powerful binoculars in their usual place. 
“ What has Cousin Angel done with them? ” 
Rosamond came to help him search but the 
glasses seemed to be nowhere in either living- 
room, dining-room, or porch. 

“Who had them last?” demanded Oliver im- 
patiently. “ That boat will be out at sea before 
we get a chance to look at her.” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


124 

“ I don’t know,” said his sister helplessly. “ I 
don’t remember using them very lately. I’ll ask 
Pearl.” 

Pearl not only did not know the whereabouts 
of the missing field-glasses but reported that 
Angelica had been looking for them that morn- 
ing. 

“ She turned the whole house upside down 
trying to find them, and thought one of you must 
know. Didn’t you take them in the boat, now, 
Oliver? ” 

“ No,” Oliver replied. “ I never take them in 
the Shark , because Cap’n Mitch has some he lets 
me use. I never have taken them farther away 
from the house than the sea-wall and I can’t re- 
member using them for ’most a week.” 

“ Neither can I,” repeated Rosamond. “ The 
war-ship is gone, anyway, and isn’t it time for 
dinner? ” 

“ I’m waiting for Miss Angel,” said Pearl, who 
darkly disapproved of Angelica’s taking the 
fishermen to town. “ I expect something has 
happened to the car. Nothing but what she’ll 
know how to fix,” Pearl added hastily, seeing an 
alarmed expression cross Rosamond’s face. 
“ But if you are hungry, you needn’t wait. Miss 


ENSIGN WILBUR APPEARS 125 

Angel can take her papers to the table with her, 
and then shell not know whether there’s any- 
body else in the room.” 


CHAPTER X 


IN WHICH ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 

Peael^s conjecture that something had hap- 
pened to the car was correct. After leaving the 
shipwrecked fishermen at the court-house, An- 
gelica spent a profitable hour in the public 
library, where, by her strange and comprehensive 
questions, she reduced two assistants to a state 
of physical exhaustion and mental desperation. 
Having left the library, fresh herself in mind and 
body, and quite unconscious of the prostration of 
the library staff, she returned to see whether 
Captain Thompson wished to go back to Mis- 
hannock. 

In and about the court-house surged an excited 
crowd and Angelica was relieved to find that the 
shipwrecked mariners would be guests of the 
town that night and in the morning would pro- 
ceed to Boston. 

One or two errands completed, she turned the 
126 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 127 

car seawards. Across pastures and meadows 
struck the long level rays of the sun, emphasiz- 
ing by their golden beauty the country’s peace 
and charm. It was difficult to realize that for 
the first time a touch of that far distant and 
terrible war had actually crossed the Atlantic. 
Angelica’s face was severe as she drove through 
a particularly lovely lane. In the fields at one 
side she caught sight of a mass of rose-bushes in 
full blossom. 

Behind them stood a little gray shingled house, 
evidently very old, and from its blank windows 
quite unoccupied. No one would ever come to 
pick those roses, survivals from days when the 
house was a home, so Angelica, who passion- 
ately loved flowers, stopped the car. In the 
Jarvis cottage at Mishannock were some huge 
jade-green vases, exactly right for these great 
fragrant clusters. 

On reaching the house, Angelica gave a gasp of 
pleasure. From the car on the road there was 
not a glimpse of ocean, but this deserted cottage 
commanded a marvelous sea view, stretching for 
miles. No wonder that it had been built, as it 
were, in the middle of a meadow, when one could 
get that sweep of beauty just for the walk from 


128 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


the road. Standing on the curved stone doorstep, 
Angelica looked through the narrow windows on 
either side of the gray old door, to see low-ceiled 
paneled rooms with fine cornices, fireplaces and 
corner-cupboards. It was empty of furniture 
but in perfect repair, showing that its present 
owner valued it. Behind, grew a tangle of black- 
berry-canes and a plantation of tansy. 

Angelica picked her roses, glad of her driving- 
gloves, for the bushes were not the thornless 
variety sacred to St. Francis. With arms laden, 
she presently returned to the car, dropping her 
fragrant load into the seat beside her. Rather 
absently she started her mechanism. To her sur- 
prise the engine began to back-fire. 

Angelica was annoyed, for she had never be- 
fore known her uncle’s car to be guilty of this 
disagreeable performance. Probably some small 
matter needed adjusting and she would stop at a 
wayside garage she remembered on the Mis- 
hannock road and have it attended to. Again 
she tried to make the engine catch. 

After some moments, during which that digni- 
fied and supposedly aristocratic car behaved like 
any plebeian “ flivver,” it finally condescended 
to move, ungraciously and with grunts and gasps, 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 129 

characterized by Angelica as disgusting, — sim- 
ply disgusting. The speed, too, seemed less than 
should be the case. 

Something was quite wrong, decided Angelica, 
when with difficulty she climbed a hill requiring 
low gear when not justified by the incline. Hav- 
ing reached the top, the car abruptly stopped, giv- 
ing Angelica just enough warning of its inten- 
tion, to get it out of the narrow road into a grassy 
margin that would permit another machine to 
pass. With great disdain she descended to see 
what was the matter. 

Fifteen minutes later, Angelica went out into 
the road to look about her. No house was visible. 
The sun’s rays still shone level through the lovely 
summer evening, but she was six miles or more 
from home, with no place where she could tele- 
phone to a garage for help, nobody to ask for 
assistance unless another car should pass. With 
a sigh she went back to the machine. 

After another period of fruitless experiments, 
she again inspected the road, and this time saw 
a man coming up the hill she had recently 
climbed. He walked quickly, though with a 
slight drag as though a foot pained him, or per- 
haps because he had traveled from a distance. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


13° 

Much as she scorned men, Angelica was glad to 
see this one. He might know what was the 
matter with the car. 

She returned to the engine, intending to be 
working over it when the man should pass, nor 
did she look up when she heard his step. She 
was quite unprepared to have a little black dog 
rush up to bestow a friendly lick on her hand. 

Angelica had not recognized John Armes, nor 
had she seen Tony, careering among the bushes, 
so that the identity of her visitor was a surprise, 
not wholly agreeable, for she preferred to be 
indebted for what help she might receive to some- 
body who was not staying at Mishannock. She 
looked up doubtfully. 

“ Can I help you, Miss Newton? ” Mr. Armes 
asked immediately. 

Angelica glanced at him as he stood most re- 
spectfully, hat in hand. 

“ If you know anything about automobile 
engines, I should be obliged if you would look at 
this one,” she replied, with a business-like nod 
of acknowledgment. 

“ What seems to be wrong? ” he inquired, com- 
ing to the machine. 

Having told him, Angelica watched rather ixn- 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 131 

patiently his rapid inspection of the engine. “ I 
understand this car quite well,” she said after a 
moment, “so something unusual must he the 
matter.” 

Mr. Armes made no reply. His keen eyes were 
inspecting every hit of mechanism in sight. 
Presently he turned to the magneto. 

“ The trouble may be here. Ah ! ”/ 

Angelica went to his side, to see him adjust- 
ing an insignificant hit of metal. “ I think this 
will remedy the difficulty,” he remarked. “ Just 
try your engine.” 

Somewhat mortified at the ease with which he 
located the apparent source of difficulty, An- 
gelica seated herself at the wheel. She was not 
wholly displeased to find the motor remaining 
silent and motionless. 

“ That doesn’t seem to he what is wrong,” she 
said after a moment of useless effort. 

Mr. Armes came beside her. He looked closely 
at the driving mechanism and an expression of 
amusement crossed his face. Yet he spoke 
gravely and with perfect respect. 

“ Your ignition is off, Miss Newton. It is not 
possible to start your engine.” 

Angelica grew red. She, who had driven for 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


132 

eight years, to make the mistake of a novice! 
Her mortification was keen as she threw on 
the switch. Instantly the engine responded, 
smoothly and easily, and the car moved into the 
road. 

“ That seems all right,” she conceded. ‘‘Thank 
you very much.” 

“ I am glad to be of service,” said Mr. Armes, 
again bowing, this time with an air of finality. 
His absolute courtesy convicted Angelica of un- 
graciousness. 

“Are you on your way to Mishannock? ” she 
inquired, ashamed that he could think she would 
leave him where he stood. “ If so, please ride 
down with me. I am going straight home.” 

“ I shall be very glad to do so,” said Mr. Armes 
pleasantly. “ Tony and I have walked far to- 
day.” 

As he spoke, he glanced at the roses piled in 
the seat beside Angelica and then laid his hand 
on the door of the tonneau. 

“ Just pitch those flowers in behind,” said An- 
gelica, determined, since politeness required her 
to offer this man a lift, to do all that was ex- 
pected of her. Moreover, she would just as soon 
have him beside her as behind, where she could 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 133 

not know how critically he was observing her or 
her driving. 

“ Is Tony invited? ” he asked as he moved the 
roses. “Good! In with you, Tony, and keep 
still.” 

He seated himself, shut the door, and the car 
again moved from the sunset toward the blue 
sea in the east. 

“I suppose that you know of the excitement 
at Mishannock this morning? ” asked Angelica, 
for her companion sat silent. 

“ Yes, I was awakened when the men came in, 
but I did not stay long. I was obliged to go to 
town and could not get any one to take me, so 
Tony and I did it on foot. I suppose the com- 
motion is over now.” 

“ Practically. I took the men to Trafton this 
afternoon. With them away there will be less 
excitement, but I imagine this will affect the 
fishermen. Fewer of them will go out to deep 
sea. It seems as though our navy might have 
prevented a crime like this, such a useless, cruel 
crime.” 

“The Atlantic coast is a tremendous stretch 
to patrol,” observed Mr. Armes. “Doubtless 
they do their best.” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


134 

“ I suppose so/’ said Angelica impatiently, 
“what men call their best. It is my private 
opinion that men like war, like to fight.” 

“ I think most men look upon this especial war 
as something inevitable, something that must be 
put through and fought to a finish. They de- 
plore the cruelty and the suffering, but nothing 
can deter them from a determination to see the 
job done.” 

“ That we fight in a righteous cause is our only 
justification,” acknowledged Angelica. “Do you 
think for one moment, if the women of Germany 
had had an equal say with the men in the matter, 
that the military party would ever have declared 
war? ” 

“ From all I have heard of the women of Ger- 
many, I believe that they willed this war, heart 
and soul, just as much as did the men.” 

“ ‘ The female of the species is more deadly 
than the male/ ” quoted Angelica defiantly, pro- 
nouncing the words John Armes was thinking. 
His slight start of confusion betrayed him. 
“And I suppose that you think a bad woman is 
worse than a bad man? ” 

“ I do,” replied Mr. Armes, seriously enough, 
but with growing amusement, “ just as I believe 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 135 

that a good woman attains a higher level than 
a man. But surely to-day no American woman, 
no English woman, can complain of lack of op- 
portunity to do a man’s work in the world. 
Thousands of patriotic girls and women have 
gone to France to kelj). When I think of them, 
many from luxurious homes, volunteering to live 
in cramped quarters, eating coarse food, doing 
the hard dirty work of the hospitals and can- 
teens, I feel that even the vision that takes a man 
into battle for the sake of a great cause, is not 
more worthy than the spirit that inspires these 
women. It is the same disregard of self, the 
same lofty patriotism in a different form. And 
as for men liking to fight, any man deserving the 
name, will fight for what he holds most dear, — 
his family, his home, his country, — whether he 
lived 4000 b. c. or to-day. Human nature is as 
old as the human race, Miss Newton.” 

For some reason, Angelica made no immediate 
reply. These arguments were not new, and she 
could have answered any Mr. Armes chose to 
state, but she was silent for a cause that she did 
not herself wholly comprehend. Presently she 
turned to her companion with a charming smile. 

“ You’ll think me a poor advocate of suffrage 


136 RAINBOW ISLAND 

not to take up your challenge, hut somehow I 
don’t feel like sparring. May I ask one ques- 
tion? I have wondered how you happen to be 
at Mishannock instead of the front? Surely you 
are of military age? ” 

Mr. Armes looked embarrassed for a second, 
yet he replied readily enough. 

“ Naturally you wonder. When I am not mak- 
ing pictures, Miss Newton, I dabble in chemistry, 
try my hand at producing lingering and lasting 
odors of varying kinds. This spring I managed 
to get blown up with an experiment I was trying, 
and it played havoc with my nerves. I am of 
no military use in my present condition and 
that is why I have been loafing around Mishan- 
nock.” 

“ What a shame ! ” said Angelica quite sympa- 
thetically. “And I suppose you couldn’t even 
put your ability to paint to some use in camou- 
flaging? ” 

“That also would be a nervous strain. My 
orders for the present are strict idleness.” 

“And so you take fifteen-mile walks as a 
sedative? ” 

“ Not ordinarily, but I was really obliged to go 
to town this morning.” 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 137 

Angelica struggled with herself for a second. 
“ I drive to Trafton rather frequently,” she said 
stiffly. “Next time you are forced to go, just 
speak to one of the children. It may very pos- 
sibly be a day when some of us are going, or if 
not, you could take the car.” 

“ That is very kind of you, Miss Newton,” said 
Mr. Armes. “ I appreciate your offer, but if I 
am required, — if I find it necessary — to take this 
trip often, I shall have to set up a car of my own. 
A second-hand flivver would answer very well 
for what I should want.” 

“I sometimes think one would be easier to 
handle on these country roads,” said Angelica 
unexpectedly. “ This machine is so long and so 
heavy that I find the curves difficult to manage. 
Here we are at the village.” 

“ Just drop Tony and me at this lane. We are 
very grateful for our lift. Give the lady your 
paw, Tony, and say adieu.” 

Angelica smiled, again thanked him for his 
help with the engine, and drove home to her 
solitary dinner. She did not take the calendar 
to the table with her. For the first time during 
her stay at Mishannock she completely forgot it. 
Instead, she found herself thinking of the girls 


138 RAINBOW ISLAND 

and women who were helping at the front in 
France. Some of them she knew. 

Again, for the first time, she wondered whether 
the cause of votes for women would suffer if she 
did not work for it during the fall, as she had 
intended. Angelica did not lack perception and 
she knew quite well that her personal powers 
would go far toward impressing the senators and 
representatives she was due to interview in Wash- 
ington. But suddenly she wondered whether 
this was the biggest thing life held for her. The 
vision that was leading men to suffer and die, was 
also inspiring women, delicately bred, to do 
menial tasks. Would not their part in victory 
loom larger to all masculine minds than the 
share of the women who were pestering Congress 
and the President? What if suffrage should 
come through recognition by grateful men of the 
work of these others, the ones who never said a 
word about wanting to vote, but just did what 
they could to bind up the wounds of the world, 
and help the men “ carry on”? That was the 
way it came to England. 

“ I am perfectly well and as strong as a man, 
and I understand French,” said Angelica to her- 
self. “ I know I could help.” 


ANGELICA MEETS A MAN 139 

And suddenly it occurred to Angelica that 
Tony Orlando Cape Porpoise had been bidden to 
say good-bye in French, 


CHAPTER XI 


IN WHICH OLIVER GOES FISHING 

Next morning found Mishannock returning to 
its former obscurity. The limelight trail fol- 
lowed the submarined fishermen to Boston, leav- 
ing the quiet little village to subside into its 
ancient peace. A reporter or two yet coursed 
through its lanes, feverishly seeking what they 
might devour, and traces of the shock and up- 
heaval lingered in the crowd congregating in 
Cap’n Mitch’s store to discuss the affair in minute 
detail. Long after its echoes in the outer world 
died away, it would remain a perennial subject 
for conversation in Mishannock. 

Oliver, out in the Shark with Cap’n Mitch, 
found his friendly companion less cheerful than 
usual, and apparently much concerned over the 
appearance of the U-boat, with its consequent 
effect upon the fishing season. As the Shark 
left the channel, a perfect grove of masts over in 
140 


OLIVER GOES FISHING 141 

Love joy harbor showed that the fleet was stay- 
ing in safe anchorage that morning. 

“How near shore do you suppose that sub- 
marine would come? ” Oliver inquired after they 
estimated that no less than twenty schooners 
were lying in the shallow waters behind Mis- 
hannock light. 

“ Depends on the coast. With all the reefs and 
shoals round this part of Maine, the skipper 
wouldn't likely venture in unless he knew the 
chart pretty well. Off Nantucket and Cape Cod, 
it might easily get within bombardin’ dis- 
tance.” 

“ Somebody said,” Oliver began lazily, his 
eyes on the line he was trolling far behind the 
boat, “that the officer in charge of the sub- 
marine spoke English very well and told Captain 
Thompson that he knew the coast all along here, 
because he had lived in Maine some years him- 
self.” 

“ I didn’t know that,” said Cap’n Mitch after 
a moment. He spoke as though he was sorry to 
hear it. “ That would make it more likely the 
boat might bob up quite unexpected. Who told 
you? ” 

“ I don’t remember,” said Oliver. “ So many 


142 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


people were talking and so much was said. I 
wonder if it was Mr. Amies? No, it couldn’t 
have been, because I didn’t see him when I went 
back to speak about the car. He was there the 
first time I was over, but I don’t think I heard 
him say anything.” 

“ I don’t much fancy the way Armes lighted 
out for town as fast as he could make it,” ob- 
served Cap’n Mitch. “ Looked sort of suspicious. 
He was out of his room all dressed within a few 
minutes of the time the men were brought in, 
hung around while they were bein’ fed and then 
cleared out. Nobody saw him till your cousin 
picked him up on the road and brought him back 
along in the evenin’.” 

“ He has gone again this morning,” said Oliver 
unexpectedly, “ this time to Portland.” 

“ He has ? ” demanded Cap’n Mitch in a voice 
that rang with genuine surprise. “Now, what 
on earth is he after? ” 

“ He came to our house very early,” said Oliver, 
“and spoke under my window. He wanted to 
borrow our field-glasses because his were stolen 
yesterday.” 

“ I want to know ! ” exclaimed Cap’n Mitch in 
the vernacular of old New England. 


OLIVER GOES FISHING 143 

“Yes,” Oliver went on, pleased with the im- 
pression he was making. “ Mr. Armes was very 
much fussed about it. He left them in his room 
and thinks that with all the going and coming 
from Maria Joe’s, somebody deliberately took 
them.” 

“ That’s a pretty charge to make,” said Caj)’n 
Mitch indignantly. “ Why, here at Mishannock 
we leave our wallets and our money lyin’ round 
loose. Stolen! Who would take his glasses? 
Any seafarin’ man has his own.” 

“ Well, they are gone, and another queer thing 
is that we can’t find ours. We have looked 
everywhere and nobody remembers who had them 
last nor what was done with them. They have 
been gone since day before yesterday, at least 
that’s when we missed them. Mr. Armes came 
to borrow them and when I said we couldn’t find 
them, he glowered like a thunder-cloud. Then he 
asked me to look after Tony to-day because he 
was going to town to catch the early train for 
Portland. I said that Angel would drive him 
up, but he said he didn’t mind walking to Sandy 
Beach. Rosamond wanted Tony, so he’s stay- 
ing with her. But it does seem odd that both 
glasses should be gone.” 


i 4 4 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ Humph,” grunted Cap’n Mitch. “ 1 should 
say it did.’ 7 

“We supposed that ours were just mislaid,” 
said Oliver thoughtfully, “but now we wonder 
whether somebody took them. They were only 
fairly good glasses, not Father’s best ones, for 
those he gave to the navy for war use. These 
were sort of shaky and you had to know how to 
focus them, but they did very well for anything 
we wanted. They weren’t nearly so good as 
those Mr. Armes had. His were even more 
powerful than yours,” Oliver ended with a glance 
at the black leather case hanging on the cock- 
pit door of the Shark. 

“ Who could have taken yours? ” asked Cap’n 
Mitch. “Isn’t Pearl ’most always round the 
house when the rest of you are off? ” 

“ Oh, we often leave the house alone, and of 
course it isn’t locked. It isn’t locked even at 
night. Cousin Angel isn’t afraid of anything 
but cows and she says she never knew of one 
coming into a house. She doesn’t mind burglars, 
but she is scared to death if she meets a cow.” 

“Women are queer,” agreed the experienced 
Cap’n Mitch. “ Would it be possible for Armes 
to sneak your glasses himself? ” 


OLIVER GOES FISHING 145 

“ Why should he? ” asked Oliver, thinking this 
suggestion over. “ He came to borrow them and 
seemed really very much surprised and annoyed 
because we didn’t know where they were.” 

“ Might have done that as a blind. Does he 
hang around the house much? ” 

“ Never,” said Oliver. “He sometimes sits 
below the sea-wall to paint, or crosses the rocks, 
but everybody does that, you know. I don’t 
think he has ever been in the house, hardly on the 
porch. Sometimes he stops to talk with Rosa- 
mond in the yard, but that is all. I wonder how 
he knew which was my room.” 

“ I guess he has ways of knowin’ anything he 
wants to learn,” replied Cap’n Mitch rather 
grimly. “ I’d give considerable to know what he 
went to Trafton for yesterday and why he’s set 
off for Portland this mornin’. If he lets on to 
you, Oliver, you remember what he says, for as 
I told you, he’s a chap that will bear watchin’.” 

“ I will,” promised Oliver, rather surprised at 
the look on Cap’n Mitch’s face. Into his mind 
there flashed that quiet remark made by Mr. 
Armes the day of the picnic on Pumpkin, con- 
cerning Cap’n Mitch’s resentment because his 
boat had not been hired. Oliver had said then 


146 RAINBOW ISLAND 

that Cap’n Mitch would be a good hater and from 
the expression about his mouth at present, it was 
plain that if he took a dislike to any one, the 
prejudice was lasting. 

Against this plausible explanation was set En- 
sign Wilbur’s impression that somebody else had 
reported Mr. Amies as a suspicious character. 
Oliver started to tell Cap’n Mitch about his talk 
with Jack, and then hesitated. It was wiser not 
to talk very much, especially if he, Oliver, was 
to get any credit for discovering what was 
wrong. 

“ So you went over to Morgan with Len yes- 
terday? ” asked his companion after a moment. 
“ Now why didn’t you tell me you wanted to go, 
and I’d have run you in with the Shark? The 
Grace is a fair shame, the way he keeps her.” 

“ You are awfully kind about taking me out,” 
said Oliver, a little confused by the unexpected 
question. “ There’s a chap in the guard we 
know very well. You are so busy that I thought 
I’d hire Cap’n Len and he wouldn’t mind waiting 
while we talked. But his boat is a slum and no 
mistake. I guess it is hardly fair to tell Rosa- 
mond the Shark is too oily and smelly for her, 
and then take her in that old scow. Jack was 


OLIVER GOES FISHING 147 

mighty glad to see us. He is coming over as 
soon as he can get leave.” 

“ Len said you went to see a friend,” said Cap’n 
Mitch, preparing to pick up a lobster-pot buoy. 
“ Want to lend a hand? ” 

Oliver took the wheel, glad that the subject 
of conversation dropjjed. Yet he could not ex- 
plain, even to himself, why he felt reluctant to 
say more about his errand to Morgan. The same 
instinct that made him hire a deaf old skipper 
for his visit there warned him to keep his own 
counsel, even with a person whom he knew 
shared his suspicions about Mr. Armes. 

While Cap’n Mitch pulled in the rope attached 
to the wooden buoy, Oliver kept the Shark as 
nearly stationary as possible, so that the drift 
of the tide would not carry them off the reef 
where the lobster cage belonged. He was so in- 
terested in watching it come up that he paid no 
attention to his fish-line, tied to the rail. 

The cage contained three lobsters, two of which 
Cap’n Mitch skilfully transferred to a big bucket. 
The third he looked at appraisingly and threw 
overboard with the single comment, “ Shed- 
din’.” 

“What! do they shed their skins?” asked 


148 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Oliver in surprise. He had never before seen one 
discarded for this reason. 

Cap’n Mitch looked amused. “How did you 
think they grew? They don’t start ten inches 
long, so we can sell ’em from birth. They grow 
like other critters, and sort of flake off their 
shells and get new ones. They aren’t good 
for much while it’s goin’ on. Look at your line, 
boy.” 

Oliver whirled around to see his fish-line abso- 
lutely taut behind the boat. Holding the wheel 
with one hand he tried to pull in the line with 
the other. He could not move it. 

Cap’n Mitch threw overboard the rebaited pot. 
“Here, I’ll take the wheel. Looks like a big 
fellow you’ve hooked.” 

Both hands free, Oliver again grasped the line, 
but still could make no impression on it. “ It 
can’t be snagged ! ” he exclaimed. 

“ Might be,” observed Cap’n Mitch. “ Plenty 
of rocks and weeds to catch a hook and we’re 
near a reef. I’ll drop a bit astern.” 

With a practised hand he let the Shark fall 
back her length, carefully watching the line as 
he did so. It slackened only perceptibly, then 
again grew taut. 


OLIVER GOES FISHING 149 

“ You’re not snagged,” he commented. “ Slack 
was taken up. No, you’ve hooked a big fish, 
Oliver. Hope your line doesn’t break on you. 
Guess it won’t, for it’s one of that good lot I’ve 
been carrying, especial for deep-sea fishin’. 
You’ve perhaps got a rock-cod or something that 
size.” 

In vain Oliver tugged at the line, his boy’s 
strength quite unequal to the task. Yet he would 
not give up, nor did Cap’n Mitch offer to help 
till he stopped with the perspiration standing on 
his forehead. 

“ Why, it must be a whale ! ” he gasped. 

With a deft twist of a rope, Cap’n Mitch lashed 
the wheel in position and laid two strong hands 
on the line behind Oliver’s clenched fists. “Easy 
does it,” he observed. “ Strong and steady. A 
quick jerk will break the line. Yes, you’ve some- 
thing big.” 

Inch by inch the two pulled in, feeling all the 
time the strong resistance at the other end. 
Oliver’s eyes were bent intently on the surface of 
the water, broken by little waves, so that his 
prize, whatever it was, would not disclose its 
identity until nearly at the surface. 

“ From the way the critter pulls, I think you’ve 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


I 5° 

hooked a dog-fish/’ said Cap’n Mitch. “ There 
he comes ! ” 

Oliver’s eyes were almost starting from his 
head with excitement as they began to discern 
below the green waves a long, shadowy form 
coming to the surface. It looked extremely big 
and formidable and the next second Oliver 
uttered an exclamation as a pointed, wicked- 
looking head emerged from the sea. 

“ Shark all right enough,” said Cap’n Mitch 
briefly, as with one hand he reached for the boat- 
hook. 66 I’ll have to kill him before he comes 
aboard or he’ll thrash all over the boat.” 

The hook soon did its work and the next 
moment Oliver stood looking at the four-foot 
shark in the bottom of its namesake. 

“ Oh, it’s not a young man-eater,” said Cap’n 
Mitch, amused at the boy’s next question. “ It’s 
what we call a dog-fish or dog-shark. That’s 
about as big as they ever grow. How much does 
it weigh? Well, perhaps twelve pounds, mebbe 
a little over. I have known them run to fifteen. 
Mostly they keep in shoals and chase herrin’ and 
whitefish. Often a shoal of small fish will be 
driven inshore by dog-fish after them. That’s 
what they eat. !No, I never saw a man-eater. 


OLIVER GOES FISHING 151 

They stay down where the water is warmer than 
up here. Once in a long time, thereTl be a shark 
scare at some beach, but the big blue sharks, the 
man-eaters, never come up round Maine. What 
do you want to do with him? ” 

“What can I do?” asked Oliver. “Isn’t he 
vicious -looking? I want Rosamond to see him.” 

“I might take him up to town if you like. 
There’s a big market and mebbe they’d think he 
was worth something to show in a window.” 

“All right,” said Oliver. “I’m sure I don’t 
want to eat him and he’s no beauty. Look at the 
queer spines in front of each fin.” 

“ They all have them,” said Cap’n Mitch. 
“ Queerest fish I ever saw, we caught once in a 
trawl about five years ago. It was an uncommon 
hot summer, hot even here at Mishannock, and 
the ocean got sort of het up, too. I was off in 
the schooner with a crew and we dropped a trawl 
about fifteen miles east of the Nubble Light. 
We pulled in, all hands, and thought we’d got a 
big haul. When the net came alongside, the 
crew, — and most of them was serious-minded 
men, — came near droppin’ it overboard for good 
and all. I shouted at them and spoke kind of 
emphatic and they landed the haul, but then they 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


* 5 2 

made themselves scarce. Seems like we’d caught 
the old Nick himself, and I must admit I didn’t 
fancy his looks. 

“ There in the trawl was a huge round critter 
with a fin a-top and a fin below, weighin’ by 
actual test three hundred and fifty pounds. 
Didn’t seem to be much but a big head with little 
pig eyes and a small mouth, and its tail was sort 
of put on like a round ruffle. Didn’t have any 
scales like a Christian fish, but its skin was like 
a pig’s in feelin’ and looks. It wasn’t good to 
eat; didn’t seem to have any use. We skinned 
it and thought mebbe the hide would fetch a trifle, 
but it didn’t. I guess nobody knew how to use 
it. We found out that it was a giant sunfish, 
but how it ever got so far north nobody could ex- 
plain. Now, we’d better run along and pick up 
the rest of the lobster buoys.” 


CHAPTER Xn 


IN WHICH ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 

At two that same afternoon, Maria Joe labori- 
ously descended the lane leading to the Jarvis 
cottage, hot and out of breath, for Maria Joe was 
a portly person, not used to much walking, ex- 
cept about her own kitchen. She found Rosa- 
mond sitting on the steps and Angelica lounging 
in a hammock, quite openly idle, a state of mind 
and body not at all customary to the energetic 
Miss Xewton. 

Maria Joe sank into the chair Rosamond 
sprang to offer, and Angelica sat up straight, 
wondering who their visitor was and what her 
errand. 

“ I came to see after Tony,” she began. 
“ Cap’n Mitch said Mr. Armes left him here and 
he never came home for his dinner. I engaged 
to feed dog as well as man, and so I came to fetch 
him. I don’t like dogs, but he’s well enough of 
153 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


1 54 

his kind, and I can’t see a dumb animal 
suffer.” 

“ Tony had his dinner with us,” said Rosa- 
mond. “ He is spending the day here.” 

“Why, I am sorry you were troubled about 
him,” Angelica added. “ It didn’t occur either 
to Rosamond or to me that you would expect him 
to come back to be fed. Mr. Armes left him here 
very early this morning.” 

“ Oh, well, it doesn’t matter,” said Maria Joe, 
“ so long as he’s had somethin’ to eat. Did Mr. 
Armes say when he was cornin’ back? ” 

“N o,” said Angelica. “As I understand, he 
told Oliver he was going to Portland and did not 
know when he should return, so he wanted the 
children to look after Tony until he did come.” 

“ I sort of inferred he didn’t mean to turn up 
to-night,” said Maria Joe, accepting the fan 
Rosamond brought from the living-room. “ He 
was more than a little put out because his spy- 
glasses can’t be found. I dunno as he blames it 
on me exactly, and of course men were cornin’ 
and goin’ all yesterday mornin’, strange men from 
town, too. The house stood open as it always 
does, and anybody who wanted to step into Mr. 
Armes’s room was free to step. It isn’t for me 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 155 

to say nobody did, but all tbe same, if be wasn’t 
goin’ to be round to ’tend to bis belonging, be 
could have told me be was leavin’.” 

“ Wby didn’t be lock tbe door? ” asked Rosa- 
mond innocently. 

“ Well, it never bad a lock,” admitted Maria 
J oe. “ But it seems as tbougb be must bave left 
tbe glasses somewhere bimself, because there was 
money in bis room, — be told me so, — and it 
wasn’t touched. Now, a body doin’ any thievin’ 
would steal money rather than spy-glasses be 
couldn’t dispose of easy. I take it bard that be 
should think be lost anything under my roof. I 
told him if be felt that, be needn’t pay bis board 
till he’d eaten tbe worth of tbe glasses, but it 
didn’t seem to make him feel any better. He 
muttered somethin’ I didn’t understand, tbougb 
it seems like be spoke plain enough. On thinkin’ 
it over, I decided perhaps it was some furrin 
language be was talkin’ to bimself, and from bis 
tone, I guess it wasn’t fit for me to understand. 
But since be was so upset, I thought I’d look 
after Tony real tender to-day. It wouldn’t sur- 
prise me if Mr. Armes didn’t come back at all. 
Me and Bill has felt all along that be was un- 
sartin in bis ways. Cap’n Mitch doesn’t think 


156 RAINBOW ISLAND 

it’s hopeful for a young chap of military age to 
he loafin’ round with a paint-brush in these 
times.” 

“ Mr. Armes has been ill,” said Angelica. “He 
told me that he was hurt in a chemical explosion 
and couldn't, work at present. He is here rest- 
ing and getting well.” 

Angelica happened to be looking out to sea and 
not at her visitor. The next second, she did 
glance at Maria Joe and was surprised at the 
expression of intense curiosity on that plain but 
speaking countenance. 

“An explosion? ” repeated Maria Joe eagerly. 
“ Then that’s how he got those scars? ” 

“Why, I believe so,” replied Angelica, con- 
scious of a vague feeling of uneasiness and wish- 
ing she had kept still. Evidently Mr. Armes had 
not confided to his landlady either his profession 
or his reason for being at Mishannock. Yet An- 
gelica could see no cause why he should not 
acknowledge both. 

Maria J oe said nothing more about her lodger. 
Indeed, her change of subject was so sudden that 
Angelica experienced a second twinge, one of sus- 
picion that in some way she had been “ pumped.” 
It was unpleasant to think that this village per- 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 157 

son, with not a quarter of Angelica’s worldly 
knowledge, could lay a trap for her guileless 
feet. 

“ I don’t suppose you want to come up to the 
church? ” asked their visitor. “ There’s a sewin’ 
meetin’ this afternoon for the Red Cross, every- 
body invited and no prejudice.” 

u What do you mean? ” Rosamond asked won- 
deringly, while Angelica looked interested. 

“ Well, you see there’s just the one church in 
Mishannock, and they started to have a sewin’ 
society of all the women and called themselves 
the Happy Workers. Land ! they could no more 
get on together than a lot of cats. Mis’ Si Bates 
wanted to sew for the Indians, and Ellen Cobb 
was determined to make flannel petticoats for 
little negroes and between them the society was 
all to pieces. I call ’em the Unhappy Workers. 
It ended by the women that wanted to make 
shirts doin’ it on a Tuesday and the petticoats 
had their way on Wednesday, and so it went, 
with only money for half as much as if they 
could agree on one thing to give it to. It took a 
war to bring that about. We saw it wasn’t any 
time to scrap over Indians and colored children, 
so we said we’d all take orders from the Red 


158 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Cross and everybody pull together. We meet 
Friday afternoons and Ellen Cobb, she sews away, 
and says nothin’ and the same with Mis’ Bates.” 

“ What are you making? ” asked Angelica. 

“ We turned off a lot of pillow-cases and sheets 
and comfort bags and easy things like that. But 
last week the allotment was pajammers, and the 
directions for makin’ them didn’t come. So far 
as I know, Mr. Armes is the only man in Mis- 
hannock who wears pants to sleep in, and we 
were all at sea about how to tack them together. 
We laid out one set of pieces, — they came all 
cut, — and figured how to make the coat, but the 
pants is sort of complicated. I took a good look 
at Mr. Armes’s when I straightened his room this 
mornin’ and I think I see how to steer them, 
all but one long piece of flannel that has us 
guessin’. We thought mebbe it got in by mis- 
take, so we opened the other bundles, and there’s 
one in each, so I guess we’ll have to figure out 
some way to sew it on.” 

“ Why, I’ll be glad to come for an hour or so,” 
said Angelica cordially. “ I have made a good 
many pajamas, so perhaps I can discover where 
the extra piece goes.” 

“That’s real good of you,” said Maria Joe, 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 1 59 

looking gratified. “I’m sort of interested in 
those pa jammers. Cornin’ up along, I didn’t 
know but what I’d put Bill into a set. You don’t 
know much about managin’ a husband, Miss 
Newton; you haven’t had experience with their 
tryin’ ways, but I found out long ago that when- 
ever Bill got cranky, I could bring him to terms 
just by starchin’ his flannel shirts. Seems like 
he couldn’t do what I wanted soon enough, and 
he’d come round to my way of thinkin’ like a 
weather-vane floppin’ in the wind. I never could 
understand why it didn’t come to him just to 
souse the shirt into water and soak out the starch, 
but he always seemed to think I’d done somethin’ 
to it nobody but myself could fix. So I let him 
think. Now, if I made him some pajammers and 
starched them when he got extra cantankerous, I 
dunno but it would work even better than shirts. 
You remember that, Miss Newton, when your 
husband gets cross-grained. Nothin’ will fetch 
him to quicker than a double-handful of starch. 
But that meetin’ is at quarter to three, so per- 
haps we’d better be steppin’ up to the church.” 

“Do you want to come, Bosy?” asked An- 
gelica, who had listened in amusement to Maria 
Joe’s advice, and openly laughed as she reached 


160 RAINBOW ISLAND 

for her hat, hanging conveniently on a chair- 
back. 

“Will there be anything I can do?” asked 
Rosamond of Maria Joe. 

“ I don’t know,” their visitor admitted. “We 
haven’t but one machine, so there are plenty to 
baste and pull threads.” 

“ I guess I’d better stay with Tony and knit 
on my socks,” said Rosamond. “ Besides, Oliver 
might come home and want me.” 

“ Your brother is down at Cap’n Mitch’s wharf 
and he’s caught a shark,” announced Maria Joe. 

“ Gracious ! ” said Rosamond. “ I think, Cousin 
Angel, I’ll go right down and see about it.” 

When Rosamond reached the wharf, Oliver’s 
prize was holding the stage as a centre of interest. 
Though the fishermen were all familiar with dog- 
fish, they were not often brought ashore, nor was 
one of such size frequently displayed. 

“It weighs fourteen pounds,” said Oliver, 
proudly displaying it to his sister, whose eyes 
expressed interest and awe. “It pulled some- 
thing fierce. You couldn’t have held the line a 
minute.” 

“ I don’t see how you ever did,” said Rosamond 
in honest admiration. 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 161 


Oliver hesitated a second. “Well,” he ad- 
mitted, “ the line was tied to the rail, and Cap’n 
Mitch helped me get him alongside. Isn’t he a 
wicked-looking beast? ” 

Rosamond agreed and turned away. She did 
not like the appearance of that shark and was 
secretly glad that she had not been with her 
brother when it was hooked. 

“ Don’t you want some ginger ale, Ollie? ” she 
asked. “ Cousin Angel gave me the money for 
it, but I waited because I thought you would be 
thirsty.” 

“ I am,” replied Oliver. “ Yes, let’s have 
some.” 

They left the dead shark by the wharf and went 
around the head of the creek to Cap’n Mitch’s 
store. The distance directly across from the 
wharf was not more than one hundred feet, but to 
reach the store otherwise than by a boat involved 
a roundabout trip through marshy meadows and 
over odd little plank bridges necessary at high 
tide. Rosamond loved the marsh paths leading 
in a maze from one fish-house to another, in so 
complicated a tangle of little ways that strangers 
invariably became confused and then hopelessly 
lost, blundering in pained astonishment into 


162 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


Maria Joe’s front yard, when their real desti- 
nation was her husband’s pier, or Tom Eaton’s 
boat-landing. 

To-day the tide was dropping and the little 
bridges were not needed by Rosamond’s skipping 
feet. Across the head of the creek lay a huge 
pile of old lobster cages, worn by sea and sun to 
a silver-gray. Just beyond grew a bank of 
coarse grass and then stood the store. 

Its interior appeared more orderly than the 
average country store, and in one corner were 
two tables surrounded by chairs, for Mrs. Mitch 
kept cold drinks and in past summers had served 
ice-cream. 

Oliver asked for the ginger ale, because friendly 
little Rosamond did not like Mrs. Mitch. She 
was a big, tall woman with a loud voice, which 
she used most of the time, either in conversing 
with neighbors at a distance, or in administering 
rebukes to her seven grandchildren, who re- 
quired, according to the judgment of Mrs. Mitch, 
constant advice and admonition. None of them, 
from Billy, aged two, to Jim, an experienced 
worldling of ten, paid the slightest attention to 
anything she said, so in the opinion of others be- 
side Rosamond, she might have saved her breath. 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 163 

Mrs. Mitch went for the cold drink and the 
children sat down by a window. Shelves lined 
the store, piled with groceries and provisions of 
all kinds, while behind lay a shed that seemed 
stacked with jute bags of grain. It was a sunny 
place with motes dancing in the rays that struck 
across through dusty windows. 

Mrs. Mitch soon returned but for once did 
not seem inclined to talk. Rosamond was pleased 
that she placed glasses, bottle, and opener on the 
table and at once returned to the back yard to 
continue a heated discussion with her married 
daughter, a discussion that seemed to concern the 
misdemeanors of three of the seven grandchil- 
dren. 

As Rosamond sipped her ginger ale, delaying a 
little to let the sting get out of it, she noticed an 
odd odor drifting from the back shed. It was 
nothing she recognized in the least, but it con- 
veyed the impression that she had smelled it be- 
fore, in some other place. 

“ What is that? ” she asked, stopping to sniff, 
with nose in air. 

“ I don’t smell anything,” said Oliver, enjoy- 
ing his cold beverage while the ginger remained 
active. “ What is it like? ” 


1 64 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“I don’t know,” replied Rosamond, with an- 
other sniff. “ I wish I did. It reminds me of 
something.” 

Oliver walked to the shed door, tested the air 
and returned to the table. “ There are fifteen 
different smells,” he remarked. “ Which do you 
object to? ” 

“ I don’t object. It only reminds me of some- 
thing I want to remember.” 

Oliver grunted, emptied his glass and rose. 
Rosamond, left far behind, made haste to finish 
and join him outside. But as she passed the shed 
door, she stopped for an instant. Somewhere, 
she had encountered that peculiar odor, but the 
only thing suggested now was a tantalizing de- 
sire to recall where she smelled it before. 

“ Cousin Angel has gone to a Red Cross sewing 
meeting,” she informed Oliver as they sauntered 
homeward, Tony at their heels. In the absence 
of his master, the little black dog stuck to Rosa- 
mond like a burr. 

“ When is she coming home? ” asked Oliver. 

“Mrs. Maria Joe didn’t know how long the 
meeting would last. She said it didn’t have any 
special time for stopping, just went on and on till 
it ran off the tracks. I think Cousin Angel in- 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 1 65 

tends to talk to them about suffrage. She didn’t 
say so, but I know she thinks she should never 
lose an opportunity to put in a word for the 
cause. But perhaps she went just to show them 
how to sew pajama legs together. She hasn’t 
worked on the calendar to-day, either ; she wrote 
letters all the morning, and gave them to me to 
take to the post-office. One was to Father and 
one to the Red Cross headquarters and one to the 
Committee for French Relief.” 

“ Well, I’m glad she’s doing something besides 
wasting energy on that useless calendar,” said 
Oliver gruffly. “ Look out, Roger, here’s a car 
coming.” 

The automobile coming around the curve gave 
a warning hoot and Rosamond jumped to the 
side of the road. The next second it slowed, and 
a friendly face looked back. 

“ Why, it’s Mr. Armes ! ” exclaimed Rosamond. 
“ Where did you get that cunning runabout? ” 

Mr. Armes surveyed the trig little car with a 
smile. Tony was already inside, covering his 
master with eager caresses and whining a wel- 
come. 

“ Do you like it? ” he asked. “ Step in. It 
will hold three slim people like us. I decided 


1 66 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


this morning that I must have some way of 
getting about on a moment’s notice, so I picked 
this up in Portland.” 

“ Weren’t you lucky to find a car like this just 
when you wanted ! ” exclaimed Oliver almost 
enviously. 

“ It isn’t new,” said Mr. Armes, “ but it is in 
good shape and I was fortunate indeed to get it. 
Now, I must see whether somebody will let me 
keep it in his barn. Cap’n Mitch is the only man 
down here who has a real garage, and he doesn’t 
feel so friendly that I am justified in asking him 
to let me share it.” 

“ He has his truck and a Ford,” said Oliver. 
“ The Ford won’t run j ust now, but the place is 
full. Put it in our garage, Mr. Armes; there is 
plenty of room, and it is safer than having gaso- 
line around a barn. Cousin Angel won’t 
care.” 

“ Your cousin was so kind the other day as to 
offer me the use of her car,” said Mr. Armes 
slowly. “ I could not incur so great a debt, but 

if I might put mine in your garage There 

is surely room? ” 

“ Plenty,” both children assured him. 

Mr. Armes turned the runabout toward the 


ROSAMOND BUYS GINGER ALE 1 67 

Jarvis house on the point. The garage lay some 
little distance nearer the village, and a glance 
revealed ample room for another car. 

“I will come and speak to your cousin,” he 
said, having looked into its spacious interior. 

“ She isn’t at home,” Rosamond again ex- 
plained. “ But it will be all right, Mr. Armes. 
Just drive in.” 

“And how about a key? ” inquired Mr. Armes, 
when the little runabout stood on the cement 
floor, looking like a toy beside the powerful 
Jarvis touring-car. “ Of course, this is locked 
at night? ” 

“ There is only one key,” said Oliver. “ It is 
kept in the kitchen, but Pearl would give it to 
you any time.” 

Mr. Armes stood for a moment considering. 
“ I wonder whether your cousin would object if 
I put a different padlock on the door. I brought 
one from town with me, to fasten whatever place 
I might hire, and it has two keys. If I substitute 
it for the one already here, then we can each have 
a key. It is possible, indeed, quite probable, that 
I might want to get my car at an hour when I 
couldn’t disturb your family.” 

Neither Oliver nor Rosamond saw any objec- 


168 RAINBOW ISLAND 

tion to this plan, and Oliver took charge of the 
new key. 

“ I’ll come and explain to your cousin this 
evening,” said Mr. Armes, running his hand 
through his hair with the manner of a tired man. 
“ Thanks to my little car, I am here much sooner 
than I anticipated.” 

“ Mrs. Maria Joe didn’t believe you were com- 
ing back,” observed Rosamond. “ She came to 
see about Tony’s dinner, and said she thought 
you might go away because your field-glasses 
were lost. She was not very nice, and Cousin 
Angel sat on her for saying you ought to be in 
the army.” 

“ What did Angel say? ” asked Oliver. 

“ Only that Mr. Armes had been hurt in a 
chemical explosion and wasn’t fit for military 
duty. Mrs. Maria Joe seemed quite pleased to 
know about it.” 

As Rosamond volunteered this information, 
John Armes gave her a quick look, shrugged his 
shoulders with an odd gesture, and ever so 
slightly raised his eyes toward heaven. 


CHAPTER Xin 


IN WHICH ANGELICA ATTENDS CHURCH 

On Sunday, Angelica announced lier intention 
of going to church. Having wrestled con- 
scientiously with pajama legs all Friday after- 
noon in company with the Happy Workers of 
the little Methodist church, one might have 
thought she would acquire sufficient interest in 
her village neighbors to share their Sunday wor- 
ship, but she proclaimed her desire to row over 
to Love joy and attend service in the white- 
steepled church, whose clock kept time for Mis- 
hannock as well as its own people. 

u Why don’t you drive to Sandy Beach where 
the big hotels are and go to St. Mary’s? ” asked 
Oliver. “ I don’t believe you will like a country 
church, Cousin Angel.” 

“ I have set my heart on going to service in a 
boat,” explained his cousin. “ I never did it in 

my life and this is my one chance. The tide is 
169 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


170 

so high, that we can slip over easily and be back 
before the water is out of the channel. Won’t 
both you and Rosy come? ” 

“ I’ll go to row,” Oliver replied, “ but I may 
stay in the boat when we get there. It depends 
on how I like the looks of the church. I don’t 
mind rowing, Angel, but you know you could 
drive over to Love joy,, and we will be in a nice 
fix if we get stuck in the channel coming 
home.” 

“ Don’t you think yourself, Ollie, that there is 
plenty of time with the tide as it is? ” asked 
Angelica, prudently contriving to have Oliver on 
her side before starting. 

“ It looks so,” Oliver agreed laconically. If 
Angelica really wished to row to Love joy, he had 
no especial objection, and even went so far as to 
dress in a manner fitting for service, should the 
spirit move him to attend. 

Angelica and Rosamond met him at the bank 
where the Waterwitch was moored, both in white 
from head to foot. Even Oliver, whose home his 
pretty cousin had always shared, was struck 
anew by Angelica’s beauty as she strolled down 
the path, but Angelica was not at all conscious 
of her own attractions, 


ANGELICA ATTENDS CHURCH 17 1 

“ How clean the boat is,” she commented. 
“ You must have washed it purposely, Oliver.” 

This was precisely what Oliver had done, but 
he only grunted an acknowledgment as he helped 
the two in. 

“ Now, I am going to row,” said Angelica. “ I 
wore this loose frock so I could. Rosy shall 
steer and then we can go over without hurry and 
without getting too warm.” 

Oliver consented, though he now felt strong 
enough to handle the Water witch entirely alone. 
Very quickly and silently the boat slid between 
the wharves and the stilted fish-houses, beyond 
the dories at anchor, and instead of passing the 
bathing-beach into the ocean, turned to the left 
into the winding shallow channel through the 
marshes to Love joy harbor. 

At their right lay Rainbow, with its fine grove 
of oaks and the solitary house at the extreme 
eastern point. To the left rose a wooded hill, its 
summit crowned by a picturesque group of pines, 
black against the western sky. 

‘‘How very clear the water always is,” ob- 
served Angelica, looking down into the channel 
where the current still ran six feet deep. “ See 
what quantities of snails, all along the sides.” 


172 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ Some day,” said Oliver, “ I am coming here 
when the tide is a little lower and collect a whole 
pailful of snails to put in the rock pools below 
our sea-wall. We have used most of those there 
for bait, and it is a good place to keep some 
handy.” 

“ I’ll help,” offered Rosamond. “ I like to put 
snails on a hook better than angle-worms.” 

“ They are both alive,” said Oliver. 

“ Snails aren’t so wiggly alive,” declared his 
sister. “ Oh, Cousin Angel, I am glad that you 
wanted to go to church in a boat! Isn’t it 
lovely? See all the gulls.” 

Circling above them, soaring and calling, sailed 
numerous gulls, some gray, some white, some 
with black touches that accentuated their beauty. 
On tireless wings they floated, flying without 
effort. Just inside the harbor entrance at Love- 
joy, a flock had alighted on the waves and sat 
serenely rising and falling with the swell of the 
tide. The day was bright and quite without 
wind. 

“ Oliver, you are the only one who has been to 
Love joy,” remarked Angelica as they emerged 
from the narrow channel into the wide bay. 
Rainbow Island yet separated them from the 


ANGELICA ATTENDS CHURCH 173 

open ocean, and just at their right towered Mis- 
hannock light. “ Where does Cap’n Mitch land ? ” 

“ Sometimes at a wharf, sometimes at a mill 
up the harbor,” replied Oliver from his superior 
knowledge. “ I think we’d better go to the mill. 
It is much nearer the church.” 

As the Water witch moved across the open har- 
bor, Rosamond looked dubious. On either side 
stretched a big expanse of water, upon which she 
saw numerous rowboats, several small sailboats 
and motor-dories, to say nothing of one great 
winged schooner, lazily tacking back and forth 
on her way to sea. Considerable traffic seemed 
abroad on the face of the deep and the Water- 
witch suddenly appeared very small and in- 
significant. 

Neither Angelica nor Oliver showed the least 
uneasiness at sight of the populous waters, and 
Rosamond gradually grew less apprehensive as 
they rowed steadily on. The sailing vessels 
slipped gracefully from their path, the dories 
chugged past with only a disturbing swell in 
their wake, and at their approach the big 
schooner obligingly veered to the other side of 
the harbor. 

“I had no idea Lovejoy was so large,” said 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


174 

Angelica, looking over her shoulder at the houses 
clustered on either side of the narrowing inlet. 

“ These are summer places down here,” said 
Oliver. “ The real town is built at the head of 
the tide.” 

The Waterwitch safely tied to a beam of the 
old mill, they walked a short distance up a shady 
village street, lined by the comfortable white 
wooden houses of old New England, to a small 
open square surrounded by the post-office, the 
school, some stores, and the church where the bell 
was now ringing. From every direction people 
were coming, singly or in groups. 

“ I guess IT1 go back to the boat,” said Oliver, 
after a glance at the church and the approaching 
congregation. 

“ Do come,” urged Rosamond, but Angelica did 
not press the matter. She knew that Oliver’s 
illness left it difficult for him to endure pro- 
longed restraint of any kind. It would be just 
as well for him to spend the hour dreaming in 
the boat out under the golden willow beside the 
old mill. She and Rosamond entered and were 
shown to a seat. 

The church was only a country one with high, 
uncomfortable pews and plain glass windows, 


ANGELICA ATTENDS CHURCH 175 

affording a lovely outlook of sea and sky, and the 
pastor was an elderly man, who made up for lack 
of opportunity in life by deep interest in his 
people. Though his sermon was neither pro- 
found nor far-reaching, it was simple and heart- 
felt and the service lacked nothing in the way of 
dignity or reverence. One pretty touch was the 
reading from the pulpit of news concerning the 
boys in France. 

Evidently each family who received a letter 
during the week were accustomed to inform their 
pastor, who made it a part of every Sunday morn- 
ing that all should know what had been heard 
from the village boys. John was at a rest camp ; 
Tom had been in action; Lester was slightly 
wounded, but was recovering ; Eichard had been 
cited in orders for courage in extreme danger. 
From the interested rustle over the whole con- 
gregation, it was evident that this honor was a 
vital matter to everybody. Over in France that 
very day, these boys were perhaps thinking of the 
little church, that was doing all in its power to 
keep in touch with its absent sons. 

But this item added to the length of service 
and when Angelica and Rosamond came out they 
were met by an anxious Oliver. 


176 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ Do hurry,” he greeted them. “ The tide is 
going very fast and well be in a fix if we are 
stuck in the channel.” 

“ It doesn’t look so very low,” said Angelica, 
but she quickened her step. Oliver was nervous 
and rowed with jerky uneven strokes that made 
it difficult to keep time. 

“ Where is the opening to the creek? ” asked 
Rosamond when they left the skimming harbor 
boats behind and were approaching what seemed 
a solid bank of land between them and Mis- 
hannock. 

“ To the left of the point,” Oliver replied, cast- 
ing a glance over his shoulder. “ Oh, I don’t 
know just where. Use your eyes, Rosamond. 
You are the only one facing forward.” 

“ Cousin Angel, I can’t see any place to go,” 
said Rosamond in distress. “ It all looks just 
alike.” 

Angelica turned, but could detect no opening. 
“ Steer for that white stone, Rosy,” she advised. 
u I remember passing near it when we came.” 

Closer and closer they drew to the other side 
of the harbor but still saw no sign of any open- 
ing into the creek. Rosamond was getting as 
nervous as Oliver, though for a different reason. 


ANGELICA ATTENDS CHURCH 177 

“ There is a point over here to the right,” she 
announced anxiously. 

“ Forget the point,” said Oliver. “If you 
can’t see anything yet, we shall have to row along 
the side till we find the channel.” 

“ I think we should go to the right,” said An- 
gelica, surveying the solid bank in dismay. “ We 
came through here, so it stands to reason that we 
can get back.” 

“ I see the opening ! ” shrieked Rosamond. 
“We are heading almost straight for it. Only 
everything looks so different with the tide lower. 
Goodness me ! How much the water has fallen ! ” 

On entering the channel, the current, several 
feet deep when they came, now showed but a foot 
or eighteen inches and was rapidly lessening. 

“ We must row like mad,” declared Oliver, “ or 
we shall never get through.” 

He and Angelica bent to their oars and the 
Waterwitch tore through the channel as fast as 
arms could propel her. Rosamond had all she 
could do to steer a straight course and not bump 
into the sides of the creek. “ Gracious ! here 
comes a boat,” she sighed. “ How can we ever 
pass? And look at it! That crazy boy is row- 
ing it stern foremost ! ” 


178 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ Keep to your right/- ordered Oliver, pulling 
frantically. “ Better ship your starboard oar, 
Cousin Angel.” 

The boat swept past them, its square stern 
first, its occupant a well-dressed boy about 
twelve, who was laboring vigorously and with 
apparent desperation to propel his awkwardly 
moving craft. 

“Why don’t you turn your boat around?” 
called Oliver as they passed. 

“Haven’t time,” replied the boy grimly, and 
vanished around a curve as suddenly as he 
came. 

“It wouldn’t take ten seconds,” said Oliver, 
“ and he could row much faster. I think ” 

“ Oliver ! ” exclaimed Angelica. “ What on 
earth is happening to this water? ” 

“ Row, Angel, row ! ” shouted Oliver. “ If you 
don't, there won’t be any water at all ! ” 

But Angelica, in petrified horror, oars in air, 
sat gazing at the creek. Its water swirled and 
receded, dropped from a scant foot to six inches, 
from six to three, and then, with a sort of suck- 
ing noise, disappeared entirely, exactly as the 
water runs out of a sink. High and dry on the 
mud bottom of the channel sat the Waterwitch. 


ANGELICA ATTENDS CHURCH 179 

There she would sit for some hours until the 
water should lazily creep up the creek again. 

Rosamond looked dismayed at their predica- 
ment and Oliver was inclined to be cross, but 
Angelica burst out laughing. She looked from 
her white gown to the mud and then at Rosa- 
mond. 

“ I seem fated to get into messes with this dis- 
gusting ooze,” she said, after both children finally 
succumbed to her contagious amusement. “I 
suppose we shall have to wade ashore.” 

“ We can’t sit here in this glaring sun,” said 
Oliver. “ I can carry Rosamond over to the 
bank, and perhaps you, too, Cousin Angel.” 

“ You will do nothing of the kind,” announced 
Angelica, “not even Rosamond. Such exertion 
would be very bad for you. Rosy and I can take 
off our shoes and stockings and walk through the 
mud. Which way shall we go? ” 

“ The left will take us over Rainbow, but there 
is a swamp and a lot of poison ivy. Besides, if 
we go that way we shall have to cross the main 
channel on the other side. If we try the hill, I 
should think we could strike around beyond the 
tide head and come out in the settlement. I be- 
lieve this old boat is possessed ! We are always 


i8o 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


having to leave her stuck somewhere and come 
back for her another day. I hate her tricks ! ” 
Angelica took off shoes and stockings and gath- 
ered her skirts in her hands. Rosamond shed 
socks and ankle ties and Oliver rolled his 
trousers. 

“ Here goes ! ” said Angelica, sitting on the 
side of the boat and waving one white foot over 
the mud. “ Ooh, how horrid it is going to feel ! ” 
“ Hello, there ! ” said Oliver suddenly. “ Jack 
Wilbur, where did you come from? ” 

At Oliver’s exclamation, Angelica dropped her 
skirts and looked in dismay at the young ensign, 
attired in an immaculate white uniform, who had 
just come around the curve of the hill. 

“ I? ” said Jack innocently. “ Good-morning, 
Angelica. How-do, Rosy? I was on my way 
over to your house, hoping that you’d invite me 
for Sunday dinner.” 


CHAPTER XIV 

IN WHICH JACK COMES TO DINNER 

“ We are glad to see you,” Angelica remarked 
with dignity, “ and of course you will be most 
welcome to dinner, if we ever get ashore to eat it.” 

“ Look here ! ” suggested Jack. “ I’ll wade in 
and carry you over to the bank.” 

“ She wouldn’t let me l ” snapped the mortified 
Oliver. 

“ Come on,” urged Jack as Angelica hesitated. 
“ You can’t step into that slime. And if you do, 
you can’t walk without shoes afterwards, and 
how will you wash off the mud? ” 

“ How will you get it off your own feet? ” in- 
quired Angelica, reluctant to step into the ooze. 
From past experience she could imagine just how 
it would feel, and to-day she had on a gown she 
did not wish to soil. She knew Jack Wilbur very 
well, though scarcely the Jack who stood before 
her. Four years’ difference in age is much when 
181 


182 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


a boy is seventeen and a girl twenty-one. Jack 
had been away at college, and the space seemed 
bridged now that he was twenty-one and she 
twenty-five. 

“ I shall manage,” said Jack, kicking off shoes 
and socks and rolling his immaculate white 
trousers. “ I’ll take Rosy first.” 

The distance from the stranded boat to the 
bank was perhaps three yards, but as she saw the 
mud close over Jack’s sinking feet, Angelica 
shivered. Much as she disliked to let him 
carry her ashore, she hated the slime still 
worse. 

“ This is a dreadful place,” she moaned. “ I 
am always getting into fixes with the mud.” 

“Here you are, Rosy,” said Jack, sweeping 
Rosamond into his arms. “ Hold tight.” 

Rosamond hugged him closely as he waded to 
the bank. Angelica took advantage of his turned 
back to hustle on her shoes and stockings. 
Oliver produced a pencil and a piece of paper and 
wrote a sign, which, having begged a pin from 
Angelica, he fastened to the blade of an oar, pro- 
truding conspicuously from the boat. 

“ If anybody with a power-dory passes, please 
tow this old stick-in-the-mud to Cap’n Mitch’s 


JACK COMES TO DINNER 183 

wharf and oblige Oliver Jarvis, Junior,” he read 
with satisfaction. Stepping overboard, he strode 
ashore. Jack returned for Angelica. 

“ Now embrace me lovingly,” he advised. “ If 
you don’t, I may lose my balance and we will both 
go flat.” 

“ Jack Wilbur, if you fall down, I shall never 
forgive you,” said Angelica sternly. 

“You aren’t much heavier than Rosamond,” 
he declared as he took one cautious step after 
another. Holding her breath, Angelica clutched 
him firmly, devoutly hoping that nobody saw this 
ignominious rescue, and inwardly much disgusted 
that whenever she got into trouble at Mis- 
hannock, some specimen of the hated species of 
man should always appear to get her out of the 
difficulty. Twice had she been indebted to Mr. 
Armes, and now to this ridiculous Jack, who, 
perhaps, might yet be classed as a boy, and An- 
gelica liked boys. 

“ Oliver, I’d give anything if you had a camera 
and could preserve this sight for posterity,” ob- 
served Jack wickedly as, from sheer love of teas- 
ing, he made a slow progress to the bank, where 
he deposited the rescued maiden beside Rosa- 
mond. Then he looked at his feet, black with 


1 84 RAINBOW ISLAND 

mud half to the knee. Oliver’s were in the same 
state. 

“ I passed a little brook on the path,” he said. 
“ Let’s step back and clean up.” 

Oliver grabbed his shoes and started in the 
direction indicated. “We shall be gone only a 
minute,” said Jack, and also hastened around 
the curve of the hill. 

“My, isn’t it hot?” said Rosamond, as An- 
gelica completed the fastening of her white ties. 
“Wasn’t it lucky Jack came? Doesn’t he look 
nice in his duck uniform? ” 

“ Yes, to all three questions,” smiled Angelica. 
“ Jack used to be a nice boy and I am sorry he 
is growing up. I suppose we had better wait, for 
personally I haven’t the least idea how to get 
home.” 

The sun beat fiercely on the southern side of 
their hill, where scant bushes afforded no shade. 
In front, the muddy creek bed gave an occasional 
disagreeable shiver and heave, as though some 
monster buried underneath was rhythmically 
breathing. 

“ Isn’t it horrid ! ” commented Rosamond. “ I 
don’t like its looks at all. I wish the boys would 
come. I’m scared of that mud.” 



Angelica clutched him firmly, devoutly hoping that nobody 
saw this ignominious rescue.— Page 183. 


























































































































JACK COMES TO DINNER 185 

“ I thought they were only going to wash their 
feet,” sighed Angelica, “ but it seems as though 
they were taking time enough for a bath.” 

“ Perhaps they have gone swimming,” sug- 
gested Rosamond. 

“ I hope not,” said Angelica. *“ If they have, 
I see where we roast in this sun.” 

“ I hear their voices,” exclaimed Rosamond 
the next moment, whistling a little signal call to 
which Oliver responded. In an instant, they 
came around the curve, dressed, and, except for 
some wrinkles in their white trousers, as im- 
maculate as before. 

“ Do you know the way to Mishannock? ” An- 
gelica asked. 

“ I was set ashore at Lovejoy and told to fol- 
low the marsh path,” replied Jack, “so I sup- 
pose we shall come out near the village. I didn’t 
know till this morning that I could have leave, 
so I couldn’t tell you I was coming, but I hope 
it doesn’t make any difference.” 

“ It doesn’t,” Angelica assured him. “ There 
will be a dinner at the house ; the only question 
is whether we are there to eat it.” 

“Lucky I decided to walk rather than come 
over by launch,” said Jack. “I thought you 


1 86 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


might be at church and they said the meadow 
path was pretty, so I thought I’d try it. If I had 
known you were in Love joy I would have met 
you after service.” 

“ I should like to see that boy again, the one 
we met rowing stern foremost,” said Angelica 
suddenly. “ I thought he was a goose not to take 
the time to turn around, but I see now that he 
belonged to the children of light and was wise in 
his generation. Doubtless he got through the 
creek before the water went out. I feel that I 
owe him an apology for misjudging him. If you 
had been with us, J ack, we might have stuck be- 
fore we did, for the boat would have been heavier. 
But all’s well that ends well.” 

“ Which way now? ” asked Oliver, who was in 
the lead. “ The path forks.” 

“ On general principles, to the left,” replied 
Jack. 

“ You’ll walk a plank if you go that way,” said 
Oliver. “ It crosses the bed of the creek.” 

“ Can you manage that? ” asked Jack of An- 
gelica, indicating the single log spanning a 
twelve-foot stretch of muddy bottom four feet 
below. 

“ I can,” replied Angelica with dignity, and 


JACK COMES TO DINNER 187 

she walked across without notice of the hand ex- 
tended to help her. Rosamond laughed and 
tucked hers confidingly into Jack’s. Sometimes, 
Cousin Angel was very funny. 

Once across the creek they found themselves in 
a grassy meadow sloping up toward a house. 
The path abruptly disappeared, seeming to end 
at the log as completely as if there it had bur- 
rowed underground. On the meadow, sheltered 
from the sea breeze, the sun beat hot. 

“ Where there is a house, we shall find a path,” 
said Oliver wisely as he started for it in a straight 
line. The hay was harvested and only short, 
sweet-smelling stubble remained. 

On reaching the house, nobody seemed at home, 
so they walked unnoticed through the back yard 
and garden. Indeed, there was no other way out 
of the meadow. 

“ Where is Mishannock? ” demanded Angelica 
in surprise, for even the ocean had now vanished 
and they could see no familiar landmark. “ This 
is the queerest, most mixed-up place I ever saw.” 

“ The village ought to be over at our left,” re- 
plied Jack, u but here is another tide head to get 
around.” 

To skirt this arm of the creek meant a wide 


1 88 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


detour along the edge of somebody’s potato patch, 
and beyond that lay a marsh. 

“ Who told you this was a good path to Mis- 
hannock? ” demanded Oliver at length, when the 
girls stopped, quite breathless with exertion un- 
der so hot a sun. 

“ I’m beginning to think we took the wrong 
fork,” Jack admitted, “though common sense 
would indicate that we should turn as we did.” 

“ One needs uncommon sense in Mishannock,” 
Oliver retorted. “I haven’t an idea where we 
are, but at least we are coming to a road.” 

“ What, beyond the pasture? ” asked Angelica, 
spying cows between her and the thread of brown 
country wayside in the distance. 

“ Over there,” said Oliver. “ With cows be- 
tween, Cousin Angel. Never mind. Jack and I 
will protect you.” 

“ I don’t need any protection,” said Angelica, 
inwardly quaking, but determined to march 
straight ahead without giving either of these 
boys a chance to pose as a superior being. Thus 
fortified mentally, she braved the pasture and 
emerged into a country road, precisely like all 
others around Mishannock. 

“ I wonder how far we are from home,” Rosa- 


JACK COMES TO DINNER 189 

mond said. “ When we sat there in the Water- 
witch , we could see the house, and now it isn’t 
anywhere. We have walked ever so long.” 

“ There is a woman coming,” said Oliver. “ It 
is your friend, Angel, Mrs. Maria Joe.” 

Maria Joe was surprised to find the Jarvis 
household so far from home on so warm a Sun- 
day, on foot, as well, and with an acquired ad- 
dition in the shape of a good-looking young naval 
officer, of whose appearance she took careful note, 
the better to report to an interested family. 

“ You’re over a mile from the village,” she said 
in answer to their inquiries. “I guess you got 
mixed up when you struck the Burts’ back yard. 
Didn’t you climb the wall and land in their holly- 
hock bed? Well, you should have crossed the 
front yard and gone down the hill. What you 
did was to turn off to the right. Until you struck 
the pasture, you were travelin’ away from town 
as fast as you walked. But now it is a straight 
way.” 

They thanked her and went on, marveling over 
the intricacies of the little settlement with its 
pervasive tide-heads and paths that wandered so 
sociably in and out of dooryards. Just before 
reaching Mishannock, they met Mr. Armes, driv- 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


190 

ing his runabout, with Tony gravely sitting be- 
side him. 

He bowed pleasantly and returned Rosamond’s 
gay wave of her hand, but seemed serious. At 
the curve of the road, he slowed the car and 
looked back rather wistfully at the four white- 
clad young figures so gayly marching along. 

“ That man who passed was Armes, the fellow 
I spoke to you about,” said Oliver, dropping be- 
hind for a moment with Ensign Wilbur. “ Have 
you heard anything yet about those flashes of 
light? ” 

“I reported the whole affair to the skipper, 
who listened as lively as an oyster, said ‘Very 
good,’ when I finished, and that is every word I 
have heard. But Banks, the other ensign at the 
station, says he knows this man Armes has been 
reported before from Mishannock, and by some- 
body rather important in the village. I can’t 
think of his name but he has been prominent 
floating loan issues and doing a lot with the 
different war drives. He’s a fisherman, but well- 
to-do. Odd I can’t remember.” 

“ Was it Cap’n Mitch? ” asked Oliver eagerly. 
“I know he thinks Armes acts suspiciously. 
Captain Mitchell Kilmer? ” 


JACK COMES TO DINNER 191 

“ That’s the party,” said Jack with conviction. 
“ Still think that way yourself? ” 

“ I don’t know,” said Oliver. “ When I am 
with Mr. Armes, I rather like him, and Rosy is 
convinced that he is square. You can’t get her 
to admit a thing against him. I like him per- 
sonally and yet queer things keep happening. I 
must tell you about the way the field-glasses 
disappeared.” 

“ That’s odd,” Jack agreed when he heard the 
tale. “ Do you think that Armes really lost 
his? ” 

“ Not a doubt of it. He was all upset, and he 
didn’t seem to me to be putting it on. He tore 
off to Portland and came back that evening with 
another pair and with that little runabout. 
Neither of them is new, and I noticed one 
peculiar thing. The machine has initials on the 
door, L. H. J., and on the case of his new glasses 
are stamped the same initials.” 

“ Perhaps he borrowed them from a friend,” 
observed Jack with some interest. 

“ Lucky man to have a friend willing to hand 
over his car and his glasses just for the asking,” 
said Oliver. “ That’s more than most of us can 
show.” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


192 

“What sort of chap is he personally?” in- 
quired Jack. 

“ Oh, a gentleman. He treats Roger as though 
she was a queen by divine right. I know he 
thinks I don’t do the decent thing by her.” 

Jack smiled. Though Oliver might seem care- 
less and even, at times, unkind, Jack knew that 
at a pinch, Oliver would do anything on earth 
for his little sister. His brusque manner cov- 
ered a really intense affection for Rosamond. 

“ I wish we could take a look at that man’s 
room,” said Jack suddenly. “ Is there any way 
it could be managed? Of course, I don’t mean 
to pry, but I’d like to see those books in foreign 
languages.” 

“ I suppose we could go to the house. Maria 
Joe is out and so is Mr. Armes, and houses at 
Mishannock are never locked. It couldn’t do 
any harm just to look into his room. Let’s turn 
off that way. I say, Angel, Jack and I want to 
step round through the village. We won’t be 
late for dinner.” 

“ We are already an hour late,” said Angelica, 
“ but a few moments more won’t matter. I don’t 
know whether we shall find Pearl reduced to 
tears. She always expects us to be drowned.” 


JACK COMES TO DINNER 193 

“ She never looks at the water when we are in 
a boat,” said Rosamond laughing, “ because she 
doesn’t want to see the place where we go down. 
We’ll go on to the house and see about some fudge 
for Jack.” 

The two boys turned off through the village 
and ran up the steps to Maria Joe’s house. 
Oliver knocked, then walked into the kitchen. 
A call of “ Cap’n Bill ” brought no response, so 
they turned to the stairs. At the head of the 
landing a door stood open into Mr. Armes’s room, 
a clean, bare place, with a locked trunk, a bed 
and a bureau, upon which were a few severely 
plain toilet articles. The only other important 
piece of furniture was a crammed bookcase. At 
this the boys glanced eagerly. 

“ French and German both,” said Jack, “ and 
by George! mostly scientific books in German. 
What queer duck is disporting itself in Mis- 
hannock? Well, that’s all we are justified in ex- 
amining. Come along, or the excellent Pearl 
will be either in tears or prayer.” 


CHAPTER XV 


IN WHICH ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 

For a few days after Jack’s visit, Mishannock’s 
fishing-fleet lay with folded wings, but as the 
trail of the U-boat came daily reported from 
regions farther north, gradually one schooner 
after another unfurled its sails and again ven- 
tured forth into the sunrise sea. Coastwise 
traffic steered a little closer inshore, and almost 
every day camouflaged steamers passed, or long 
strings of barges towed by a powerful tug and 
escorted by small gray war-ships that darted 
about at high speed, seeming to express by their 
swift movements their impatience over having 
to accommodate themselves to the pace of their 
heavily laden convoys. Sometimes the little 
destroyer would rush frantically seaward for a 
few miles, or hasten far ahead of the laboring 
tug and cumbersome barges, as though for a few 
moments it really must do something speedy or 

burst its boilers where it was. 

194 


ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 195 

“ They hate to go slow and escort barges/’ said 
Oliver one afternoon. “ I suppose they are 
crazy to go across and fight. Just patrolling the 
home coast is as stupid as eating war bread to 
help. I guess it does help but it’s deadly tire- 
some. I wish we could find our glasses. I want 
to look at that boat.” 

“ I saw Mr. Armes go past a while ago,” said 
Rosamond. “ If we go down on the rocks where 
he is, he will let us use his. Let’s come anyway, 
and see what he is painting.” 

Oliver dropped the mallet he had been twist- 
ing around his head. Croquet was losing all 
charm, for he could so easily beat Rosamond that 
it was not much fun. To-day they had intro- 
duced an element of variety by walking about the 
grassy ground on their knees, but Rosamond, 
who had suggested the process, found it trying, 
since she wore only socks, and Oliver sprang up 
hastily when he saw the Shark go by. 

“ Can’t ship you this afternoon,” Cap’n Mitch 
responded to Oliver’s hail. “ Business up along 
shore. Won’t be back till to-morrow.” 

“ I suppose he is taking supplies somewhere,” 
observed Oliver, noticing the low water-line of 
the boat and the tarpaulin thrown over her cargo. 


196 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ He had the Shark packed early this morning, 
and I thought he was going out with the full tide, 
but he’s waited till it’s half out again. Mr. 
Armes isn’t on the rocks, Roger. He is ’way over 
on Rainbow.” 

“ I don’t see him,” said Rosamond, looking 
across the channel. 

“ Tony is there. He just ran out on the beach. 
There he goes back into the tangle.” 

Rosamond caught a glimpse of a little black 
body dodging into the tall grass, but saw nothing 
of Tony’s master. 

“ Let’s go across in the boat and pick rasp- 
berries,” she suggested. “ Pearl wants some for 
jam and they are thick on Rainbow.” 

Oliver did not care about picking berries, but 
he could think of nothing better to do. What he 
really wished was to go in swimming, but he had 
been once that morning, and was under strict 
orders from the family doctor to refrain from 
more than one dip a day in such chilly water as 
that of Maine. This did not apply, of course, to 
wading or to accidental tumbles into the creek. 

“All right,” he agreed. “Get a basket or 
something.” 

Rosamond ran into the house to obtain some 


ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 197 

pails from Pearl and returned with a plentiful 
supply of freshly baked ginger cookies. 

The tide was dropping so rapidly that time 
only just sufficed to get the Waterwitch over the 
shallow bar and into the deeper channel. Five 
minutes later would have meant being again 
stuck ignominiously on the mud flat for hours. 
As it was, they would have to walk across it on 
their return. 

Neither Tony nor his master was in sight 
when they beached the boat and approached the 
tangle of vines and bushes stretching from the 
grove of oaks to the lonely house on the point. 
Berries were so plentiful that even Oliver, who 
disliked to pick them, found no difficulty in filling 
his pail. Rosamond was rather slower, for so 
many wild roses and flowers crowded her path 
that she could not keep her eyes wholly on her 
task. Out at sea the camouflaged steamer and 
its tow were disappearing to the north, escorted 
by the peppery little war-vessel, yet darting 
impatiently about. Against the sky shone a 
magnificent six-masted schooner like a great 
beautiful sea-bird, every sail spread. Directly 
in line with her, though much nearer shore, lay a 
tiny sloop, the top of its one mast reaching ex- 


198 RAINBOW ISLAND 

actly to the deck of the larger boat. It seemed 
precisely like a child’s toy, drifting on the sum- 
mer sea. 

Rosamond found that there were more or less 
well defined paths through the tangle on Rain- 
bow, probably made by other berry-pickers, 
making it possible to wander through bushes and 
shrubs always above her waist and sometimes 
above her head. One of these paths seemed to 
lead to the house, so, when both pails were 
filled, she suggested that they follow it. 

Oliver agreed listlessly. Since he might not 
go with the Shark, he did not care how he spent 
the afternoon. 

Before long, Rosamond’s progress became yet 
slower, because of poison ivy on either side of the 
path, obliging her to step with care lest its leaves 
brush her legs, bare above her socks. Oliver 
strode ahead, reaching the beach long before her. 
When she finally emerged near the house on the 
point, Oliver was already some distance down the 
island. 

Rosamond looked at the house, which she had 
not before seen from that especial side and dis- 
tance. It seemed as attractive as ever and she 
approached with the intention of again going 


ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 199 

inside. Just as she was about to step on the 
ruined piazza, she stubbed her toe, fell, and rolled 
down beside the lattice-work at its end. 

Rosamond was not much hurt, but as she 
rubbed a chafed knee, she caught sight of a small 
tin box just under the edge of the porch, as 
though somebody had tucked it there to keep it 
out of the wet. When she picked it up, its con- 
tents rattled and it seemed heavy. Before she 
could take off the cover, there was a little scurry, 
a short bark, and Tony stood before her, wagging 
his tail. 

“ Tony, you darling,” said Rosamond, patting 
his head. “ Where’s your master? ” 

Tony very well understood what was asked of 
him. Dashing to the corner of the porch, he 
stopped and looked back, plainly inviting her to 
follow. Still rubbing her knee, Rosamond 
walked around the house to find Mr. Armes 
sitting on the edge of the side piazza. He was 
not painting, but had evidently been watching 
the shipping at sea. Nor did he seem surprised 
at Rosamond’s arrival. 

“ Where is your brother?” he asked, after 
greeting her with a pleasant smile. “ I thought 
I saw you both leave the boat.” 


200 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ Oliver has gone down the beach/’ replied 
Rosamond, seating herself beside him. “He 
didn’t tell me what for.” 

“And what have you there? ” asked Mr. Armes, 
looking at the tin box Rosamond held and of 
which she was trying to remove the cover. 

“I picked it up at the corner of the house. 
Something in it rattles.” 

As she spoke, Rosamond pulled off the cover 
and looked into a box half full of small brownish 
crystals. “ What is it? ” she asked. “ Rock 
salt? ” 

Into Mr. Armes’s eyes came again that look of 
intent concentration, displayed when Oliver 
showed him the series of letters written on the 
window-sill of the empty house. 

“ Permit me? ” he asked, taking the box and 
looking at it closely. The tin itself was un- 
labeled and might once have held mustard. The 
crystals were without odor but shone with a 
curious metallic lustre. 

“ What is it? ” Rosamond again asked. 

Mr. Armes did not answer. Opening his knife, 
he scratched one of the crystals. 

“ Is it salt? ” Rosamond inquired. 

“ No,” replied her companion in a very preoccu- 


ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 201 

pied tone. “Where did you say you found 
it?” 

Rosamond again explained. “ What is it and 
what is it good for? ” she demanded. 

“ Pardon,” said Mr. Armes, as though for the 
first time conscious that he had not answered her 
question. “ I think I know what it is and in the 
space of a moment I shall see if I am right.” 

Tipping some of the crystals into the cover of 
the tin, he produced from one pocket a silver 
match-box and from another the little vial of 
fresh water carried for his painting. Moistening 
the crystals in the cover, he approached a lighted 
match. To Rosamond’s surprise a dancing flame 
instantly spread over the surface of the tin 
cover. 

“ Why ! ” she exclaimed as a certain pungent 
odor struck her nostrils. “ That is the queer 
smell I’ve been trying to remember. And I 
know now where I smelled it. It was in the 
closet in the house here, — the closet that was 
locked one day and open the next.” 

Mr. Armes, who had been gazing thoughtfully 
at the flames, suddenly looked at Rosamond, and 
his face looked as though a bright light had ap- 
peared behind his eyes. 


202 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“Why, when did you smell it again? ” he 
asked. 

“ I will tell you,” said Rosamond, “ when you 
have told me what this stuff is. I think I have 
asked you three times.” 

Mr. Armes laughed outright. “ Pardon,” he 
said again. “ It is calcium carbide.” 

Rosamond knew no more than before and 
suspected her companion of teasing. “ That 
doesn’t mean anything to me,” she said with a 
little pout. “ What is it good for? ” 

“ For various uses ; in combination with water 
to generate acetylene gas, which you see and 
smell. This gas gives a powerful, bright light 
and is often used in places where electricity can- 
not be installed. Let us go into the house and 
see, or rather sniff that closet,” he suggested. 

Rosamond gladly pushed aside the screen of 
vines and entered the house, but when they 
reached the room of her dreams the closet, wit £ 
door wide open, afforded not a single unusual 
odor. 

“ I know I smelled that here,” she said in dis- 
appointment. “When I noticed it again the 
other day, I couldn’t remember where. This 
afternoon it came right back to me.” 



To Rosamond’s surprise, a dancing flame instantly spr ead 
OYER THE SURFACE OF THE TIN COVER . — Page 201 . 





































































































































ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 203 

Mr. Armes gave her another keen look but did 
not speak immediately. Instead, he glanced at 
the memorandum penciled on the sill and through 
his glasses at the distant horizon. Then, pro- 
ducing a foot-rule from his pocket, he held it 
before him at different angles in a most mysteri- 
ous manner. 

But, as she watched him, Rosamond became 
aware that she did not, as during her two previ- 
ous visits, feel that the house was unhappy. It 
still seemed lonely but there was a sort of hush 
as though it was waiting, almost eagerly, for 
what was going to happen next. 

Mr. Armes did not spend much time at the 
window. Shutting his rule with a snap, he 
smiled at Rosamond’s wistful face and turned to 
the stairs. 

“Let us come down on the rocks,” he sug- 
gested. “ While you are waiting for your 
brother, will you tell me where you smelled 
acetylene gas for the second time? ” 

“ I wonder whether I did at all? ” sighed Rosa- 
mond as they left the house and crossed the 
piazza to the beach. “There isn’t a speck of 
smell in the closet now. I smelled it for the 
second time the day Oliver and I went to Cap’n 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


204 

Mitch’s store for ginger ale. Did I imagine it 
both times? ” she ended when she had told the 
story. 

“Not at all,” replied Mr. Armes. “Indeed, 
the sense of smell is the most powerful of all to 
cause recollection. A whiff of some odor will 
bring into memory a whole scene, perhaps of 
years previous. Personally, I never smell banana 
oil without having brought vividly to my mind 
the chat — the home of my grandmother, where I 
visited as a small boy. It was used for some 
cleaning purpose, — detestable stuff that it is,” he 
ended with a shudder. “ Never shall I forget it ! 

“But I think that an acetylene burning lan- 
tern of some kind was shut in that closet, when 
it was locked. While the door remained shut, 
though the lantern had been removed, some odor 
of the gas might remain. I do not think you 
imagined it. With the door left open, the scent 
would quickly disappear. As for the odor in 
Cap’n Mitch’s shed, he might very probably use 
an acetylene lamp in his boat or about the store. 
We may assume the presence of a lantern in both 
places, for you would scarcely notice the odor 
unless the gas was being generated.” 

Mr. Armes spoke in so matter-of-fact a tone 


ROSAMOND FINDS A BOX 205 

that Rosamond, struck by the extreme reason- 
ableness of the explanation, quite forgot to think 
it odd that any kind of a lantern should be shut 
in a locked closet in a house that had never been 
occupied. But this was the first point that im- 
pressed Oliver when he heard her story that 
evening. 


CHAPTER XVI 


IN WHICH MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 

“It stands to reason/ 5 said Oliver severely, 
“ that if Mr. Armes knew a lantern had been in 
that closet, it was because he put it there himself.” 

“ Then why did he tell me what made the 
odor? 55 demanded Rosamond with some spirit. 
“ He could have told me anything and I wouldn’t 
have known the difference.” 

“ Sometimes it is more deceiving to tell the 
truth,” observed Oliver, “ especially when people 
don’t expect it. I read once that the best place 
to hide anything is in plain sight.” 

“ That’s silly. How could anybody help see- 
ing it?” 

“ In the story, it worked.” 

“ Oh, a story. But this isn’t one. It’s truly 
happening,” sighed Rosamond. “ Did you see 
the evening paper? Some lumber schooners 
have been burned by that dreadful submarine. 
It is down this way again.” 

“ If there was a lantern in that empty house,” 
206 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 207 

mused Oliver, paying no attention to Rosamond’s 
last remark, “ it was used for signalling. I be- 
lieve that somebody was signalling to the U-boat 
that night we saw flashes. The east window of 
that room looked straight to sea. It wasn’t pos- 
sible to see a single house anywhere. That was 
why Mr. Armes chose it.” 

“ Oliver,” expostulated Rosamond, almost in 
tears, “ why do you keep insisting that Mr. Armes 
is the spy? I know he isn’t.” 

“ You haven’t any earthly reason,” retorted the 
logical Oliver. “ Just because you like him, you 
think he is all right.” 

“ I know because I feel it. Cousin Angel says 
that women feel things that men don’t, and that 
they have something, in — in, — well, I can’t re- 
member what, but they know things right off that 
it takes men perfect ages to find out and under- 
stand. A mother knows why her baby cries, but 
its father only stands round and wonders what 
to do.” 

“ That’s her business,” said Oliver. 

“ It’s more than that. I wish I could remem- 
ber the name.” 

“ Instinct? ” asked Oliver. 

“ I don’t think so,” said Rosamond doubtfully. 


208 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“but that sounds something like it. If that’s 
the word, then women know by instinct things 
men can’t find out.” 

“ The lower animals have instinct instead of 
brains,” began Oliver teasingly, but stopped be- 
cause Rosamond looked so distressed. “ I guess 
you mean intuition, Roger.” 

“ I don’t care what its name is, but I have it 
and it makes me sure Mr. Armes isn’t a spy. I’d 
as soon think Jack Wilbur was one. I feel the 
same way about them both.” 

“ Would you be convinced if I caught him spy- 
ing? ” 

“ If you really and truly saw him doing it, I 
might, but how could you do that, Oliver? ” 

“I think,” said her brother, after some de- 
liberation, “ that I shall tell Angel I want to 
camp on Rainbow. Now, don’t you tell her why, 
for it isn’t necessary. She likes to sleep out- 
doors herself, and I shall just say that I want to 
take blankets and a rubber poncho and bunk on 
the beach. She will let me, because she knows 
Father would, if he were here.” 

“ May I come? ” asked Rosamond eagerly. “ I 
never did sleep right out under the stars, and you 
would be frightened all alone, Oliver.” 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 209 

“ I see myself being frightened ! What is there 
to be afraid of? ” 

“ Rainbow is pretty big to be the only person 
on. Wouldn’t you like to have me? ” 

“ I don’t see Angel permitting you to come. 
More likely that she would come herself.” 

“I don’t want to stay in the house alone, if 
Cousin Angel goes,” protested Rosamond. 

“ Pearl would be near you.” 

“ Pearl would sit up all night, crying and 
wringing her hands, if you and Cousin Angel 
were over on Rainbow. Sometimes, I think 
Pearl isn’t very comforting. She always thinks 
people are drowned or lost or smashed up, or 
that something dreadful is happening.” 

“ On the whole,” mused Oliver, “ I don’t want 
Angel to go, because I don’t want to tell her 
about the spy. If I camp on Rainbow, I mean 
to watch the house and see whether anybody goes 
in. Of course, I may not strike the night the 
man goes to signal, but the submarine is getting 
down this way again, so it is likely to happen any 
evening.” 

“It will be very scary to sleep all alone on 
Rainbow,” said Rosamond firmly, as she slid 
from the wall. 


210 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ I shall not do it for pleasure but because it 
is my patriotic duty to find out what is going on 
over there,” replied Oliver. “Your legs are a 
disgrace to the family, Roger, all skinned and 
bruised. You ought to wear long stockings if 
you can’t manage without banging yourself at 
such a rate.” 

Rosamond looked ruefully at her brown and 
battered knees. “ I don’t hurt them on purpose, 
Oliver,” she said reproachfully. “ I keep tum- 
bling down.” 

“ I don’t see how you can fall down so much 
unless you are drunk. You ought to be careful. 
It gives people a bad impression to see your legs 
all bruises. They might think I whacked 
them.” 

Rosamond concluded to smile. “ Of course 
they wouldn’t think so, Ollie,” she said sunnily. 
“ But if you don’t want me, I wish Jack could 
come over and watch on Rainbow with you. Or 
why don’t you ask Cap’n Mitch? ” 

“Why don’t I?” mused Oliver. “I could, 
only, well — there isn’t much of anything I can 
do to help with the war, and if I could catch the 
spy myself, I’d like to. If Cap’n Mitch went, I 
think he’d take all the credit. Now, don’t say 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 21 1 


anything to Angel, for I want to think the matter 
over and make my plans.’ ’ 

Rosamond looked after him wistfully as he 
sauntered into the house. She envied him his 
years and his boy’s freedom. There were so 
many things a little girl might not do. 

Oliver regretted his gibes at Rosamond’s knees 
the very next morning, when he managed to 
tumble down the front stairs himself in the most 
humiliating and babyish manner. The injury 
to his feelings was bad enough, but the fall some- 
how resulted in a cut lip and a loosened tooth, 
causing Angelica to hustle him straight to the 
aid of doctor and dentist. Protests were use- 
less, and the one gleam of light on Oliver’s 
darkened horizon was that Rosamond, down on 
the beach, remained in complete ignorance of his 
disaster. Fully half an hour after the car had 
whirled her disgusted brother toward town, 
Rosamond learned from Pearl of the mishap. 

“ I think they might have taken me,” she said 
soberly. 

“ Miss Angel was that upset, she didn’t know 
what she was doing,” said Pearl consolingly. 
“ Don’t you want a doughnut? ” 

Rosamond accepted the offering, but still 


212 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


looked subdued. 44 I suppose you don’t want to 
come in bathing, Pearl?” she asked. 44 It’s no 
fun to go alone.” 

44 It’s no fun to be frozen or drowned or carried 
off by a submarine, either, and I’d probably be 
all three. Money couldn’t hire me to step one 
step into that water. But I’ll come and sit on 
the beach while you go in, if you like.” 

Pearl did not add, what was the truth, that she 
would promptly have gone into the ocean, clothes 
and all, had any one of her three disasters threat- 
ened Rosamond. 

44 It’s much more fun to have somebody in with 
you,” said Rosamond. 44 I think I’ll wait till 
afternoon, and perhaps Oliver and Cousin Angel 
will go.” 

Having eaten her doughnut, she wandered 
down the road toward the open garage. On ap- 
proaching its door, she was surprised to hear 
sounds from within, and the next moment the 
little runabout backed out. 

44 Good-morning, Rosamond,” said Mr. Armes 
pleasantly. 44 When I saw that your car 
wasn’t here, I thought perhaps you were all 
away.” 

44 1 think they might have taken me,” repeated 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 213 

Rosamond. “ I was only on the beach and they 
could have called. I wanted to go.” 

Mr. Armes smiled at her wistful face. “ Would 
you come with me? ” he asked. “ I’d like your 
company, if you think your cousin would not 
mind.” 

“ She isn’t here to ask,” said Rosamond, beam- 
ing at this suggestion, “and I’d love to go. I 
think I will, because, really, they ought to have 
called me. Where are you going? ” 

“Rosamond,” said Mr. Armes whimsically, 
“ I don’t know precisely where I am going, and 
I don’t know exactly what I am going for, and 
I am not at all sure I shall recognize what I 
want when I see it ! ” 

Rosamond stared, quite mystified by this odd 
errand. 

“ Suppose you run and tell your cook that you 
are going with me and bring a coat of some kind. 
You may need it. Tell her I expect to be back 
by luncheon time, but not to worry if you don’t 
come. I shall take good care of you.” 

“It’s all right,” said Pearl when Rosamond 
dashed into the kitchen with her message. “Miss 
Angel ought not to have left you behind.” 

Mr. Armes looked pleased when Rosamond 


214 RAINBOW ISLAND 

came dancing back, her sweater over one arm. 
“ Shall we let Tony go? ” he asked gravely. “He 
wants to very much.” 

“ Oh, yes, let him,” decided Rosamond and she 
made room for Tony on the seat beside her. 
There he sat, perfectly happy, with her arm 
around him, occasionally bestowing on her a 
hasty kiss as a token of his delight. Mr. Armes 
started the car and they were soon traversing 
the familiar road to Sandy Beach. 

Half-way there, he suddenly turned to the 
right. “ First, we will go to Lovejoy,” he 
said. 

“I have been there only in the boat,” said 
Rosamond happily. To be flying along the coun- 
try roads on this lovely summer morning was fun 
indeed. Only once was her enjoyment dashed, 
when her glance fell on the damaged brown legs 
above her short socks. Her blue smock frock 
with bloomers to match was clean and fresh that 
morning and she had put on her panama hat, but 
she wished that she had also taken the time to 
pull on long stockings. 

Mr. Armes did not seem either to notice the 
bruises or to harbor any sinister ideas as to how 
they happened. Instead, he smiled at her very 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 215 

pleasantly once or twice, and talked as though 
he was really glad to have a companion. In a 
very few minutes they entered the little village 
of Love joy. 

“We will stop at the post-office,” said Mr. 
Armes, bringing the car to a stand. Taking it 
for granted she might go wherever he went, 
Rosamond skipped promptly out. 

The post-office interior was an orderly little 
place, quite modern and up-to-date in its equip- 
ment. Having purchased a post-card, Mr. Armes 
went to the desk at one side to write it. Rosa- 
mond wandered about the single room and then 
stood at the door, watching Tony. When she 
glanced back, Mr. Armes had mailed his card and 
was looking at the appointments of the place as 
though interested in finding them so complete. 

“ That’s all in Lovejoy,” he said as they went 
out. “Now, let us visit the next town to the 
north.” 

The little runabout proved a good traveler and 
soon took them the few miles to Masonville. 
Here Mr. Armes stopped before a big general 
store that seemed to sell everything imaginable. 

“ Our errand is an ice-cream cone apiece,” he 
announced smilingly as they entered its dark/ 


2l6 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


interior. “ Could you eat it and do you think 
we might venture one for Tony? ” 

“ I could eat it and I know Tony would love 
it,” laughed Rosamond. 

Mr. Armes wandered around the store while 
eating his cone, but made no further purchases. 

“ Did you find what you wanted? ” asked Rosa- 
mond when they started again. That he should 
travel such a distance for merely a post-card and 
an ice-cream cone seemed hardly reasonable. 

“ Not yet,” replied her companion, “ but I told 
you, you remember, that I might not know it when 
I saw it. So far as I am aware, I haven’t even 
seen it.” 

After Masonville, they visited in succession 
four other villages, all on the seacoast. At each, 
Mr. Armes stopped at its central store, made 
some insignificant purchase or asked directions 
to another place, and from each, came away with 
the same shake of his head to Rosamond’s in- 
terested question. 

“ I’m beginning to think my whole theory is 
incorrect,” he said after leaving the last place. 
“ It is only a theory I am working on, and what 
I want must be found within a certain distance of 
Mishannock if I find it at all.” 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 217 

He turned the car homeward and for some 
moments sat quite silent, attending only to his 
driving. Rosamond glanced at him several times, 
but he still looked as though he was thinking hard, 
so she devoted herself to the appreciative Tony. 

To say the least, the automobile manners of 
Tony Orlando Cape Porpoise were snobbish. 
They could not pass a four-footed friend without 
his letting off little yelps of disdain. His satis- 
faction with his own exalted position on the seat 
of the runabout was so absurd that Rosamond 
laughed heartily. 

“Tony, you are a proud-like dog,” she said 
when Tony gave vent to a particularly insulting 
howl at a handsome collie, who looked as though 
only the presence of human beings prevented him 
from pulling bodily from the runabout this un- 
bearable beast. “I should think you would 
make them hate you.” 

“Doubtless they do despise him,” said Mr. 
Armes. The next second he gave the wheel such 
an unexpected twist that the car scraped the 
roadside hedge. 

“ I hope I didn’t hurt you?” he asked anxiously 
as Rosamond straightened her hat. “I am so 
sorry. Stupid that I am, I had an idea.” 


2l8 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ Do you know now where to go for what you 
want? ” Rosamond asked eagerly. 

“ I believe I do ! Let us look at the hour. Oh, 
there is plenty of time to run up to town.” 

Rosamond was enjoying herself too much to be 
critical, but the thought did cross her mind that 
if Mr. Armes really had a definite errand, the 
stores of the big town afforded in the beginning 
a far better choice than those of the villages they 
had visited. She sat up straight and pulled her 
smock over her disgraceful knees as they entered 
the city streets. 

This time they stopped at a candy store, from 
which Mr. Armes emerged with a cake of 
chocolate, which he dropped into her lap. Then 
they drove to the post-office. 

Rosamond again followed him from the car, 
but she saw no reason why they should visit the 
place, since Mr. Armes merely walked the length 
of the post-office corridor and came directly out, 
without buying even so much as a stamp. 

“ One more place I want to go and then home,” 
he announced. “We will go round by Sandy 
Beach.” 

Rosamond always enjoyed the long beach 
where the surf broke in great rollers on a won- 


f 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 219 

derful expanse of sand, bordered by big hotels. 
To-day many little girls of her own age were play- 
ing or bathing, and she wished that one, at least, 
happened to be summering at Mishannock. Mr. 
Armes drove slowly along the beach road, so that 
she could see the divers and two galloping ponies. 
While they watched, a sudden movement stirred 
a crowd at a little distance and floating on the 
water, like a gigantic duck, they saw a sea-plane. 
As they looked, it raised itself slightly, skimmed 
for some distance just like a gull and then rose 
to fly high in the air. It circled above the crowd 
on the beach, the pilot waving his hand, and then 
darted in a straight line out over the tossing 
ocean. Rosamond watched it with parted lips. 

“Could we stop at the Sandy Beach post- 
office? ” she asked, when the roar of its engine 
died away and the plane was only a speck in the 
distance. “ I don’t know whether Cousin Angel 
will get the letters.” 

“ Does your mail come here? ” asked Mr. 
Armes. “ Mine comes to the Four Corners.” 

“ The Corners is nearer,” said Rosamond, “ but 
when we came, we didn’t know that, so every- 
body started sending ours here and we haven’t 
changed.” 


220 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


Arrived at the post-office, Rosamond peeped 
into the box reserved for use of the Jarvis 
cottage, saw two letters therein, and ran to the 
window to ask for them, since Angelica carried 
the only key. One proved from Father in France 
and roused her to great excitement. Not until 
they were nearly at Mishannock again did it 
occur to her that Mr. Armes had not done his 
errand in Sandy Beach. 

“And you didn't find what you went for? ” 
she asked with interest. “ Not anywhere? ” 

“I found it, yes, at Sandy Beach,” said Mr. 
Armes mysteriously. “ That is, I proved my 
theory. Thank you very much for the pleasant 
morning you have given me.” 

“ Fve had a beautiful time,” said Rosamond 
honestly, as she ran to the cottage, waving her 
letter. 

“ No, I don’t mind your going with Mr. Armes, 
Rosy,” said Angelica as they sat down for lunch, 
Oliver somewhat disfigured by strips of sur- 
geon’s plaster and yet exercised in his mind. 
“ But what an odd trip he took, just to country 
stores.” 

“ I don’t understand,” said Rosamond, “ be- 
cause he said he found what he wanted at Sandy 


MR. ARMES TAKES A DRIVE 221 


Beach, and all he did was to open a box in the 
post-office. It didn’t have any letters in it 
either.” 

“ I thought you said his mail went to the Cor- 
ners,” said Oliver, looking up from his clam 
chowder. 

“He said it did,” said Rosamond. “That’s 
funny, because he went straight to a box at Sandy 
Beach and opened it.” 

“ It is peculiar,” observed Oliver with a skep- 
tical grunt. 


CHAPTER XVH 

IN WHICH CAP'N MITCH MENDS A NET 

Angelica made no objection to Oliver’s plan 
of sleeping on Rainbow. Seven weeks at Mis- 
hannock bad made a great difference in bis phys- 
ical condition, and sbe welcomed this desire to 
return to tbe normal delights of boyhood. Nor 
did sbe suggest coming herself. 

“ You won’t be lonely, will you, Ollie? ” sbe 
asked. “ There is no reason why Rosamond 
should not camp with you if you wish.” 

“ I should have her on my mind all night. I’ll 
take her some other time, but just now I’d rather 
go alone.” 

“ Very well,” said his cousin. “ Perhaps she 
had better not go until you have tried it. Only 
wait for a warm fair night.” 

Oliver secretly thought that the night when it 

was essential to go to Rainbow might very easily 
222 


CAP’N MITCH MENDS A NET 223 

prove neither mild nor pleasant, hut he said 
nothing of his premonition and trusted that for- 
tune would favor him in the way of weather. 
His only guide as to time was the newspaper 
accounts of the submarine, the trail of which was 
reported nearer their vicinity. He concluded to 
sound Cap’n Mitch cautiously as to his opinion 
on its whereabouts. 

The Shark , having returned from her trip 
alongshore, now lay at anchor in the deeper part 
of the tideway, already loaded for another ex- 
pedition, so Oliver judged from the depth of her 
hull, as he sauntered toward Cap’n Mitch’s store. 
At the end of the lane leading from the Jarvis 
house, he met his sister. 

“ I thought you were at the Red Cross meeting 
with Cousin Angel,” he said in some surprise. 

“ I did go, but there wasn’t anything for me 
to do, not even rags to snip. The assignment of 
work hadn’t come and there were two people for 
every piece of sewing. Angel said I had better 
come outdoors and knit. See my sock ! I have 
turned the heel of the second one of my third pair 
and Angel says I did it as well as she could. 
Would you not like to knit, Oliver? I’ll teach 
you.” 


224 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ No, thanks,” said her brother. “ I’m going 
spy-catching.” 

“ What, at Cap’n Mitch’s store? ” asked Rosa- 
mond, noting his direction. 

“ Of course not. Mr. Armes keeps away from 
there. I am just going to consult Cap’n Mitch 
about something. You may come if you won’t 
butt in.” 

“ I won’t,” agreed Rosamond, as she skipped 
into step. Cap’n Mitch was not at his store. 

“ You’ll find him over at his wharf,” said Mrs. 
Mitch, coming to the door and looking pleasantly 
at the two. Yet Rosamond dropped her eyes. 
She did not like that scrutiny. Mrs. Mitch’s 
eyes seemed hard, like bits of glass with no kind 
spirit looking through. The same feeling that 
bade Rosamond trust Mr. Armes warned her 
that Mrs. Mitch did not really like little girls. 

Together she and Oliver sauntered across the 
meadows where the tide bridges lay. Bits of 
marsh rosemary were showing lavender blossoms 
and sweet-grass waved feathery plumes. From 
sea came an invigorating smell of salt. Yet on 
the horizon drifted a low-hanging bank of fog. 
Whether it would sweep inward depended on the 
wind. 


CAP’N MITCH MENDS A NET 225 

In the doorway of his fish-house, Cap’n Mitch 
sat mending a net. Its gray meshes and cork 
floats were carefully wound on the great reel at 
one side of the platform. Below, on the piles, 
the barnacles clustered close above the lapping 
waves of a coming tide. It would not be low 
water until very late that evening. 

The captain greeted the children as though 
glad to see them. Oliver seated himself on an 
upturned bucket, and Rosamond sat down with 
her knitting on a pile of laths from old lobster- 
cages, worm-eaten, and weathered from expo- 
sure. 

“ Yes, I’m goin’ out again before long with a 
load of stuff,” said Cap’n Mitch to Oliver’s com- 
ment on the low-riding Shark. “What with 
freight rates so high and the railroads so con- 
gested, a man who can distribute goods by water 
can get his money back. I have more trade than 
I can handle.” 

“Aren’t you afraid of the submarine? ” in- 
quired Oliver. 

“ Not much,” laughed Cap’n Mitch. “ I 
wouldn’t give a snap of my fingers for any tin 
fish.” 

“ How fast do you think they travel? ” Oliver 


226 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


went on. “ From what the papers say, this one 
that has been up round the Grand Banks is 
coming south again. When do you suppose it 
w T ill be off shore here? ” 

“ Only its skipper knows, and likely he may 
run clean down to Nantucket without showin’ its 
nose above water. Probably it doesn’t travel on 
schedule. Might turn up to-night, mebbe not at 
all. Scared of it, Oliver? ” 

“ Oh, no,” said Oliver, flushing a little, for the 
bantering tone did not please him. “ I know it 
isn’t likely to come in shore nor to waste ammu- 
nition on a place like Mishannock. Besides, we 
have the whole United States at our back. We 
could walk to Boston if it was necessary. It 
might seem different on an island off shore, where 
you couldn’t get away.” 

“ Guess you’re safe enough anywhere,” grunted 
Cap’n Mitch, bending over his net. “And you 
don’t want to believe everything you read in the 
papers. There’s always two sides to every story. 
All of those submarine commanders aren’t such 
brutes as they make ’em out.” 

“ But how about their shooting Captain 
Fryatt? ” asked Oliver. “And their drowning 
the crew of the Belgian Prince?” 


CAP’N MITCH MENDS A NET 227 

His tone was so full of surprise and reproach 
that Cap’n Mitch smiled. 

“You’re young, Oliver, boy,” he said after a 
moment. “ Everything is either black or white, 
no shadin’ at all. I suppose you think England 
is justified in puttin’ through compulsory mili- 
tary service in Ireland, when it’s a burnin’ shame 
the way the Irish have been treated for cen- 
turies.” 

“ I don’t know anything about that,” admitted 
Oliver, “ but I’d rather be oppressed any day by 
England than by Germany.”" 

Cap’n Mitch gave a snort. “When you’re 
down and out, it doesn’t much matter who’s 
sittin’ on you. All you want is a chance to stand 
up and hit back. No strong nation can keep its 
hands off when it gets a chance to squeeze the 
little feller.” 

“But how about Cuba?” asked Oliver. 
“ Father told me how the United States promised 
it self-government as soon as it was fit, and kept 
the promise. And so Cuba declared war on 
Germany just for what it could do to help 
us.” 

“ One swallow doesn’t make a summer,” com- 
mented Cap’n Mitch. “We hung on to the 


228 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


Philippines. But here’s Rosamond, — I guess she 
doesn’t think much of fightin’ anyway.” 

“It would be much nicer if nations didn’t 
quarrel,” said Rosamond soberly. “Then no- 
body need be killed, and Father could be home 
again, though of course he isn’t actually fighting, 
only helping make things better. Cousin Angel 
wants to go over and do something in France.” 

“ When did that notion strike her? ” inquired 
Oliver, turning to his sister in surprise. 

“ I don’t know when she first thought of it, but 
she hasn’t worked on the calendar for a long 
time now. This morning she had letters from 
New York, and they want her to go to Paris and 
help with the reconstruction work. Cousin 
Angel went to school in France,” Rosamond ex- 
plained to Cap’n Mitch, “and she understands 
and speaks French just as well as English, so she 
could do ever so much. Mother meant to spend 
part of the summer with us here, so just as soon 
as Cousin Angel knows when she’s coming, she 
thinks she’ll go. She was dreadfully sober over 
it,” said Rosamond wistfully, “and she hasn’t 
said one word about suffrage for ever so long, 
Oliver.” 

“ Lucky Angel ! ” muttered her brother. “ I’d 


CAP’N MITCH MENDS A NET 229 

give anything if I could go too. I guess I’ll plug 
at French for all I’m worth, only this war will be 
over before I ever get a chance to do anything. 
I wonder what put that into Angel’s head. She 
never before said one word about working over 
there.” 

Oliver relapsed into silence and Rosamond 
looked up. “Cap’n Mitch, are these old laths 
good for anything? ” 

“Only to burn. What did you want to do 
with ’em? ” 

“ They are very pretty,” said Rosamond, who 
had laid aside her knitting and was arranging 
the laths side by side on the wharf. “ These 
places where the worms have eaten them make a 
sort of pattern, and they are such a lovely, soft 
gray. They remind me of the way Mr. Armes 
stained his boat.” 

“His boat doesn’t sail any the better for its 
fancy canvas and its womanish woodwork,” said 
Cap’n Mitch shortly. “Give me plain, useful 
things every time. If you want those laths, 
Rosamond, you’re welcome to ’em. I was just 
goin’ to use ’em for kindlin’ and I’ve plenty other 
stuff.” 

“ Oh, thank you,” said Rosamond. “Wouldn’t 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


23° 

they make a lovely panel, Oliver, nailed close 
together? We could cut strips the same length 
with others around for a border.” 

“Wouldn’t be bad,” agreed Oliver, who liked 
to work with tools, and who also saw the charm 
of the silvery, water-worn strips. “ I’ll help you 
sometime when I’ve nothing else to do. I’ll bring 
the boat for them some day, Cap’n Mitch.” 

“ They’re not in my way,” replied Cap’n Mitch, 
who seemed pleased over Rosamond’s delight. 
“ Take ’em any time that suits you.” 

“We will make a picture panel to put over the 
fireplace,” said Rosamond, still busy over the 
laths. “ Only the perfect ones will do.” 

“Why, it is sort of pretty,” remarked Cap’n 
Mitch, looking at the strips in surprise. “ I 
hadn’t an idee that they were of any use. Oliver, 
if you want to ask Ellen for a hammer, you can 
knock all the laths you please off that heap of 
old cages at the head of the crick, and Rosamond 
can take her choice. I can see that you don’t 
want splintered ones. In fact, the worm-eaten 
ones are the very ones I want to get rid of.” 

“ You don’t think there are any worms left in 
them, do you?” asked Rosamond rather doubt- 
fully. 


CAFN MITCH MENDS A NET 231 

Cap’ll Mitch burst out laughing. “ Land, no ! 
That was all done when they were under water, 
by borers, the kind that eat away wharf piles. 
No worms will ever come out of your picture to 
bother you.” 

Oliver, who was really interested in Rosa- 
mond’s idea, went for the hammer and they spent 
a long time turning over the old cages and knock- 
ing off the most artistically smoothed or eaten 
laths. 

“ I believe I’ll put these into the Waterwitch 
now,” he said to his sister, when the most de- 
sirable lay piled by themselves. “Then we’ll row 
down to the sea-wall and tie the boat. If I de- 
cide to sleep on Rainbow to-night, I shall want 
you to go over with me and row the boat back. 
I can’t leave it on the beach, for then the spy 
would suspect that somebody was around.” 

“We have left this boat stuck all over Mis- 
hannock,” said Rosamond. “ Its being in a place 
doesn’t mean that we are anywhere near. The 
day we left it in the middle of the creek, you 
know it was towed back as you asked, and tied 
at the wharf and we never found out whom to 
thank. And when it drifted away from Pump- 
kin, somebody brought it back for us.” 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


232 

“ I guess we have acquired a reputation for 
leaving it all over the landscape,” agreed Oliver, 
“ but I want it taken back from Rainbow.” 

He piled the beautiful smooth, sun-bleached 
strips into the skiff and presently they dropped 
down the channel to the Jarvis sea-wall. Far 
out yet lay the sullen bank of fog. Oliver looked 
at it with speculative eyes. 

“ I wish I knew whether that was coming in,” 
he mused. “And I want to see what the evening 
paper says about the U-boat.” 

“ Pearl, has anybody brought the mail?” called 
Rosamond as she reached the top of the steps, 
tripped, and fell flat, hoping that Oliver had not 
seen. She arose with a fresh scratch on one 
knee. 

“Yes,” came the answer from the house. 
“ Somebody driving by left it.” 

Rosamond dashed in for the paper. Upon its 
front page figured the submarine, sinking lumber 
schooners off the Maine coast not forty miles from 
Mishannock. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


IN WHICH OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 

“ Why did you decide to go to France, Cousin 
Angel?” asked Rosamond that evening. She 
and Angelica were side by side in the porch 
hammock and Oliver sat astride the sea-wall, 
his eyes fixed thoughtfully on the bank of fog. 
“ I thought you meant to go to Washington and 
ask men to vote for woman suffrage.” 

“ I did, Rosy, but somehow, I think I’d rather 
go to France and do what I can to help. I 
haven’t said anything yet to suffrage head- 
quarters and they will think me a quitter, but 
I can’t prevent that. Why did I change my 
mind? Partly because of letters Uncle Oliver 
has written, partly because one day somebody 
said something to me that made me wonder 
whether what I was doing was worth my while.” 

“But I thought you considered votes for 
women most important and that it was your 

patriotic duty to work for that.” 

233 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


234 

Angelica shivered to hear her own wise words 
repeated by Rosamond’s innocent lips. 

“ Rosy,” she remarked solemnly, “ when I said 
that I was younger than I am now* I’ve changed 
my mind about patriotism. Now, I believe that 
it is my patriotic duty to do what is needed, and 
to do what I can do best, rather than what I want 
to do. I wish that I was qualified to be a nurse, 
but I am not. I speak French well and I can 
drive a car, and I am willing to put my ability 
in either to any use in any way that will help. 
And I sincerely wish, Rosy, that I had gone 
before.” 

“ I shall miss you dreadfully, Cousin Angel,” 
said Rosamond, hugging her affectionately. “ I 
will write to you every week. Do you think you 
can be near Father? ” 

“ Probably not. They wrote that French- 
speaking workers were greatly needed in Paris, 
to distribute clothing to refugees and things like 
that, help people find places to live and furniture 
to use, and to investigate cases for relief. I feel 
ashamed, Rosy, well as I know Paris, and long 
as I lived there, that it took Mishannock 
and ” 


Angelica stopped. To herself, under her 


OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 235 

breath, she finished her sentence, “and a man, 
yes, a man, Angelica Newton, to make you 
ashamed of your useless life.” 

“And what, Cousin Angel?” asked Rosa- 
mond. 

“ Oh, several things, Maria Joe struggling with 
her pajama legs, this submarine and the fisher- 
men in the boat. I see that I haven’t been help- 
ing in the best way. I’m a reformed character, 
Rosy ; I’ll copy the example of England’s women 
and let suffrage slide till the war is won. And 
don’t ever again quote any of the foolish things 
I say, will you? ” 

“ Father will be amused,” laughed Rosamond. 
“ He loved to poke fun at you, Cousin Angel.” 

“ He did, indeed ! ” sighed Angelica. “ He 
won’t do it any more, Rosy.” 

Oliver slid from the sea-wall and came to the 
porch steps. “ I think I’ll go over on Rainbow 
to-night,” he observed. 

“ It is warm enough, but how about that bank 
of fog? ” asked his cousin, wrinkling her pretty 
nose and looking dubiously out to sea. 

“ I’ve watched it since three this afternoon and 
it isn’t coming in shore at all. I feel just like 
going to-night. I’ll get my blankets and Rosa- 


236 RAINBOW ISLAND 

mond can row over with me to bring the boat 
back.” 

“ Oliver,” said Angelica quickly, “ I want you 
to keep the boat at the island. I should be very 
uneasy to think of you over there, unable to come 
back if you wanted to do so. Really, that won’t 
answer.” 

“ I should prefer to be like Robinson Crusoe,” 
observed Oliver gloomily, “ not able to get away, 
whatever happens. It won’t be the same if I am 
not really marooned. I could get away, Angel, 
if it was necessary. I could easily wade or swim 
the creek where we stuck that Sunday.” 

u I suppose you could, but couldn’t you also 
play you were marooned? ” 

Oliver considered. His real objection to hav- 
ing the Waterwitch left was that somebody might 
see it and suspect that he was on Rainbow. On 
the other hand, the island was so large that it 
was extremely improbable the spy, if he came, 
would stumble on the exact spot where a boat 
lay, especially in the dark. It would be quite 
possible to moor it off the northern side, in the 
creek itself, not on the beach, along which Oliver 
thought Mr. Armes would walk, since that was 
the shortest way from Mishannock. Again, 


OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 237 

should Mr. Armes be watching, he might see the 
skiff go over with two occupants and only Rosa- 
mond return. Perhaps it was just as well to 
start alone through the creek as though bound 
for Love joy, and land on Rainbow from that 
side. 

“All right, Angel,” he said after a moment. 
“ If it will make you feel better, I’ll keep the 
boat.” 

“ I shall not be in the least anxious, knowing 
that you can come back if you wish,” replied 
his cousin. “Don’t forget your rubber blan- 
ket.” 

By the time Oliver collected his camping out- 
fit, the long twilight was fading over Mishan- 
nock, and sleepy Rosamond had twice yawned. 
She came to the sea-wall steps to see him 
start. 

“ I hope you won’t be scared, Oliver. I wish 
you would signal to me with a flash-light.” 

“ That reminds me that I haven’t mine. Get 
it, will you, Rosamond? But I can’t signal, be- 
cause the spy might see.” 

“ I shall stay awake and watch for lights on 
the water,” announced his sister as she returned 
with the electric torch. 


238 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ Much you will stay awake ! ” laughed Oliver. 
“ You are half asleep now. Good-night, Roger. 
Don’t waste any time worrying about me.” 

Rosamond sat on the steps, watching the boat 
go back towards the fishing village and turn into 
the narrow channel forming the short-cut to 
Love joy. When it vanished behind the tall grass 
of the marsh, she went into the house and to bed. 
She did not stay awake. 

Oliver rowed up the creek, congratulating him- 
self on the happy inspiration of approaching 
Rainbow from that side. Within an hour it 
would be impossible for another boat to get 
through the channel, thus making it sure that no- 
body would blunder on the Waterwitch , tied to 
the bank. Yet it was perhaps fortunate that 
he and Rosamond had accustomed the village to 
finding that boat anywhere on the shore line of 
Mishannock. 

By the time he tied the painter to a shrub near 
the Lovejoy end of the creek, darkness had 
fallen. No one could possibly see him from the 
mainland, as he cautiously approached the house 
on the point. 

To seaward stretched two reefs forming the 
deep natural harbor that was one of the attrac- 


OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 239 

tions of the spot. Each started from shore as a 
point edged by rocks with a sandy space on top. 
Oliver planned to choose a resting-place on the 
left-hand point, settle himself comfortably on the 
drifted seaweed at the base of the rocks and 
await events. From this spot of vantage, he 
could command the window up-stairs looking 
eastward, and also see what was going on out on 
the water. There was no moon and the night 
promised to be so dark that he could not readily 
be detected if he remained in the shadow of the 
rocks. The only chance of being seen would be as 
a silhouette against the whiter sand, and of this 
there was no danger so long as he stuck to his 
sheltering background. 

Finding a springy heap of dried seaweed, 
Oliver spread his poncho. Then for a time he 
sat on the beach, dreamily looking seaward. 
Nothing but tossing ocean between him and 
France, where Father was working hard, for no 
reward but the joy of helping. And now Cousin 
Angelica was going also. 

“Why on earth couldn’t I have been three 
years older? ” growled Oliver between his teeth. 
“At eighteen, I could have got into the navy, or 
into the Royal Flying Corps, if they wouldn’t 




2 4 o RAINBOW ISLAND 

take me in our own. All I can do is to eat war 
bread and do footling things like that, and sit 
on a rock, looking for a spj that probably doesn’t 
exist.” 

After a time Oliver grew drowsy. It was not 
probable that any signalling would take place 
until after midnight, so he might as well get a 
few hours’ rest. Returning to his chosen couch, 
he tucked himself in, impressed upon his mind 
the necessity of waking at twelve, wondered 
gratefully over the absence of mosquitoes and 
went to sleep. Below the rocks, the great tide 
went seawards. 

About half-past twelve Oliver awoke, quite sud- 
denly, but not at call of the thought he had set to 
wake him. From the beach, to the south, came a 
crackle, as though dried seaweed crunched be- 
neath a step. Very cautiously he pulled him- 
self up from his blankets to a sitting position 
with back against his rock. Above, the stars 
shone hazily, showing that the fog bank yet lay 
quietly at sea, but they did not afford light 
enough for Oliver to see anything but the black 
bulk of the house rather dimly to his right. He 
strained his ears intently. Once again came 
that crackle of seaweed, so distinctly that it 


OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 241 

could only be caused by somebody walking along 
the beach. 

It was no part of Oliver’s plan to show him- 
self or in any way to make his presence known. 
He merely intended to ascertain whether a signal 
from the sea was answered from the unoccupied 
house; should fortune favor him a sight of the 
conspirator, to determine once and for all that it 
was Mr. Armes. He was only after evidence to 
place before such authorities as were represented 
by Ensign Wilbur ; — he would make no attempt 
to interfere personally with a man for whose 
strength he could be no match. 

The crunching seaweed drove every vestige of 
sleep from his brain, and he sat with all faculties 
alert for what should happen next. 

Nothing happened for a long time. There was 
no unusual noise, only the lap and wash of waves, 
quieter than ordinary, because of the low tide 
and the still air. Once a bat dove so close to his 
face that he felt the wind from its wings ; once a 
large crab scuttled over the pebbles, and in the 
dried grass of the shore something squeaked. 
Nothing at all extraordinary seemed afoot on 
Rainbow, only little furry and feathered inhabit- 
ants whom business called abroad that night. 


242 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Oliver began to speculate as to the hour, yet 
hesitated to use his flash-light because he knew 
that if anything was going to happen, it must be 
about time. Possibly, even though he put both 
watch and flash-light under a blanket, somebody 
might see the glow. Yet the moments dragged 
long and he had almost decided to venture a look 
at his watch when he again heard somebody on 
the beach. 

At first, in the distance, came the crunch of sea- 
weed and sand, then a scratching sound as though 
a boot slipped on a rock. In spite of his intense 
interest and determination to see the thing 
through, Oliver felt his hair rising slightly, cold 
shivers coursing down his back. With every 
muscle tense, he waited for what was coming. 

The footsteps fell nearer and more distinct, 
and then suddenly sounded hollow, showing that 
the newcomer had reached the porch of the 
vacant house. A creak from a loose board, 
silence for a moment, and then muffled sounds. 
Now that he was inside the house, little could be 
heard, but undoubtedly he had gone inside. 

Moment after moment, Oliver waited, hardly 
daring to breathe, much less to move, because the 
chances were that the visitor was now standing 


OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 243 

at the window looking out to sea, with the point 
where Oliver sat in his line of vision. 

Oliver counted to himself by sixties, thus judg- 
ing the minutes. Presently, over in Love joy, the 
church clock struck. One — two ! The echoes of 
its bell died away in long quivers. 

At the sound, a bright light shone from that 
upper window, a curiously intense, blinding 
radiance, which, though Oliver was fully expect- 
ing something of the kind, quite startled him 
when it did appear. For a second it left him 
gasping, for it seemed as though it must illumi- 
nate his hiding-place, but the next instant he saw 
that its rays were cunningly contrived to strike 
in a narrow angle to a long distance. Not one 
fell on Rainbow nor on the immediate sea. 

Mechanically, Oliver continued counting. 
Twice he reached sixty and again began, when 
out on the horizon appeared an answering flash, 
low on the water. Instantly the light in the 
house went out. 

From sea came a series of flashes, long and 
short, long again, evidently a code of some kind. 
Darkness followed for a few seconds, and then 
more brief flashes from the ocean. 

When the last died away, Oliver looked eagerly 


244 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


at the house, anticipating an answer, but none 
came. The eastern window remained absolutely 
dark. Evidently all that was expected of the 
spy was to announce his presence in the proper 
place at the appointed hour. # 

Out at sea, the darkness was also unbroken,: 
and after a few moments Oliver heard steps 
emerge from the house, the piazza boards again 
creak, sand and seaweed rustle. Slight sounds 
died away in the distance. 

Oliver started to rise and stretch his limbs, 
cramped by the stiff attitude in which he had 
been holding himself for so long, but as he did so, 1 
from the point opposite came a noise. It might 
have been caused by any little wandering crea- 
ture, but with his senses keyed to his detective 
adventure, everything seemed of importance. He 
did not move but waited a long time in silence. 

Over in Lovejoy the clock finally struck three. 
The early summer dawn was coming; already 
things were growing lighter. Everywhere, sea- 
ward and landward, black was perceptibly chang- 
ing to gray. 

Something else was coming also, soft and trail- 
ing, drifting in from sea. A wraith of mist 
floated past Oliver’s face, touched it with clammy 


OLIVER CAMPS ON RAINBOW 245 

fingers, passed on. Across the little harbor, on 
the point forming its other side, dimly outlined 
against the graying sky, Oliver saw something 
that held him rigid. He caught one glimpse of a 
man, standing on the rocks. The next second, 
the fog swirled between, catching that indistinct 
figure into its embrace and blotting it from 
Oliver’s vision. 

He sat in dumb amazement, afraid to trust his 
own senses, yet, as the mist blanket grew thicker, 
he very plainly heard the crunch of sand and 
seaweed as the intruder walked slowly down 
Rainbow’s beach. 

Long after dawn, a gray, clammy, wet dawn, 
punctuated at intervals of twenty seconds by 
the fog-bell at Mishannock Light, a ghostly, 
wailing voice, Oliver sat meditating on this 
mysterious occurrence. Unless he was to dis- 
believe the evidence of both ears and eyes, 
there had been three people on Rainbow Island 
during the night; himself, the man who came 
straight to the house, entered it and signalled 
to sea, and the man on the other point. The 
two could not be one, for the man in the house 
did not conceal his going, and could scarcely 
have stolen back again unheard. 


246 RAINBOW ISLAND 

And if Mr. Armes was in the house, communi- 
cating with the submarine, who was the watcher 
on the point? 


CHAPTER XIX 


IN WHICH OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 

It was yet early when Oliver returned to the 
Jarvis house. Without much difficulty he made 
his way through the fog to the edge of the creek 
where he left the Water witch, finding her now 
afloat on a half tide. The creek, too, was suc- 
cessfully negotiated, though with many bumps 
into almost invisible banks, but once in the wider 
channel, Oliver found it extremely difficult to 
discover his whereabouts. Having headed, as he 
supposed, for Cap’n Mitch’s wharf, he was more 
than a little surprised to find himself suddenly 
aground on the bathing beach, nowhere near the 
village. 

He prudently decided to skirt the shore to his 
own sea-wall, since he was now much nearer that 
than the usual mooring-place of the Waterwitch . 
In this he was successful, though had he been an 
oar’s length farther from shore, he would have 

passed without knowing. 

247 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


248 

As usual, the cottage stood unlocked, and he 
stole in, hoping to reach his room without wak- 
ing any one. But Angelica heard. 

“ I’m glad you are in, Oliver. Was it fun? ” 

“ Interesting, yes. Wet, after the fog came. 
No, I didn’t sleep very much. I’ll take a nap 
until breakfast is ready.” 

Before going to sleep, Oliver debated whether 
or not he should tell Rosamond what he had seen 
on Rainbow, and finally concluded to do so. To 
get in touch with the coast-guard on Morgan and 
make a second report to Jack was entirely out 
of the question in so dense a fog. That would 
have to await its lifting. 

Breakfast was late that misty morning, for in 
the absence of the sun even Pearl overslept, and 
there was no temptation to hurry into the outer 
world, so cold in its dripping blanket of cloud. 
Over at Mishannock Light, the fog-bell methodi- 
cally wailed. 

Another sound came at intervals on the east 
wind, from the whistling buoy off Love joy, a 
mournful, subdued note, unheard in pleasant 
weather, for only during a fog could its sound 
penetrate so far as Mishannock. Both bell and 
.buoy added to the melancholy of the morning. 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 249 

Breakfast was over, but they were yet sitting 
around the table when a quick step sounded on 
the porch, followed by an abrupt rap at the 
door. 

“Why, it is Mr. Amies / 7 said Angelica, sur- 
prised at so early a call. 

“ Good-morning, Miss Newton , 77 said their 
visitor as she came to greet him. “You were 
once kind enough to offer me the use of your 
car in case of necessity. My need just now is 
great. I am positively obliged to go to Sandy 
Beach as soon as possible, and two tires on my 
own car are flat, punctured in some mysterious 
way. I have only one extra tire. May I take 
your car? 77 

“Why, certainly , 77 replied Angelica. “How 
odd about your tires ! They were all right last 
night, for I went to the garage just at dark and 
happened to glance at the runabout . 77 

“ I haven’t time now to find out how it hap- 
pened , 77 said Mr. Armes rather grimly. “ I may 
take your car? Will you give me the key ? 77 

Followed by Oliver, Angelica went into the 
other room for her purse. Their visitor betrayed 
that he was much excited over something. 

“Cousin Angel , 77 whispered Oliver, “if Mr. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


250 

Armes is going to take our car, I am going with 
him. Perhaps he means to skip entirely and 
never come back. Pll bet he busted his own 
tires, so as to have an excuse to borrow a higher- 
powered machine.” 

“ I can’t refuse to let him take it,” replied 
Angelica, looking amazed. 

“You may be sure that he is going farther 
than Sandy Beach,” Oliver asserted firmly. 

Something in her young cousin’s manner struck 
Angelica. His voice held a tone of assurance, 
even of authority. Was the boy Oliver, whom 
she considered merely a pleasant playmate, de- 
veloping into a man, with a man’s dominating 
ways? 

“ There is no reason why you should not go, 
Ollie, if you wish, but it is absurd to think he 
means to steal the car.” 

“ I mean that he shall not,” said Oliver, snatch- 
ing a sweater from the couch. 

Angelica returned to the porch with the key. 
“ Oliver wants to go and get the mail,” she re- 
marked in a matter-of-fact tone. 

“Doesn’t Rosamond want to come?” asked 
Mr. Armes, looking in her direction. “I shall 
be gone but a brief time, Miss Newton, though if 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 251 

you don’t mind, I should like to run into town 
and purchase another tire. I appreciate greatly 
your kindness.” 

Rosamond jumped at the suggestion. “May 
I, Cousin Angel? It’s so foggy here.” 

“ Run along,” said her cousin. “ If Oliver is 
going, you may as well.” 

John Armes lost no time in getting the car 
from the garage, and though it was a different 
make from his own, seemed perfectly at home 
with its mechanism. To Rosamond’s surprise, 
Oliver motioned her to take the front seat, and 
himself slid into the tonneau. Within a few 
moments they were well on their way to Sandy 
Beach, Rosamond chattering happily, Oliver ab- 
solutely mute, divided between suspicion, resent- 
ment and real perplexity. Exactly what was 
going to happen he did not know, and he was 
equally doubtful as to what he should do to meet 
any emergency that might arise. That Rosa- 
mond was of the party relieved his fear that Mr. 
Armes meant to take French leave of Mishannock 
in a stolen car, but that this sudden trip was for 
any good purpose, Oliver did not believe. 

Just outside Sandy Beach they overtook a 
Ford and Oliver was displeased by the speed with 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


252 

which Mr. Armes shot by, and by the fact that he 
did not even nod to the driver of the smaller car, 
Cap’n Mitch. Yet Oliver was not certain that 
the captain recognized them, for he made no 
response to Rosamond’s waving hand. 

After passing Cap’n Mitch, it was only a few 
blocks to Sandy Beach’s small business sec- 
tion, and Mr. Armes stopped at the post-office, 
jumping out very quickly. As he did so, he 
glanced behind him and then turned to the chil- 
dren. 

“ Oliver, Rosamond,” he said in an odd voice, 
strained, as though moved by some intense 
emotion, “ if Cap’n Mitch comes to the post- 
office, will one of you speak to him and keep him 
talking, just until I come out again? It doesn’t 
matter what you say, only detain him long 
enough for that.” 

Rosamond stared ; Oliver’s face darkened. He 
understood! In some way, he was to help Mr. 
Armes against the man, who all along had con- 
sidered Armes a man to watch. Well, Oliver had 
been watching. 

“ I will not, Mr. Armes,” he said abruptly. “ I 
understand more than you think. I won’t help 
you.” 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 253 

John Armes gave him a look, which, beginning 
in surprise, ended in a touch of pity. He turned 
to Rosamond. 

“ Rosamond,” he said gently, “ I am depending 
on you. Don’t fail me. It isn’t me alone you 
will be helping. I ask you to do it for your 
country.” 

Turning, he hurried into the post-office, leav- 
ing two astonished children behind him. Both 
completely forgot that they had meant to get 
their own mail. The swinging door hardly 
closed behind him before the Ford turned the 
corner and Cap’n Mitch stopped just behind their 
car. 

Rosamond glanced at her brother. Oliver’s 
face was white and his lips were set in a straight 
line, which did not relax in the least before her 
imploring eyes. Cap’n Mitch left his machine, 
and came along the sidewalk. Unconsciously 
clasping her hands, Rosamond leaned towards 
him. 

“Good-morning, Cap’n Mitch,” she said in a 
voice that trembled a little. “ Somebody told me 
that here at Sandy Beach there is a man who has 
a whole lot of ship models, little ships, I mean, 
like real ones. Do you know who he is and 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


254 

where we can find him? Does he let people see 
them? ” 

“Why, you must mean old Doc Symonds,” 
said Cap’n Mitch, stopping beside her. “ Hello, 
Oliver. Well, those little ships are worth seein’ 
and Doc likes to have company. He lives down 
on Spring Street. Do you know where the Bap- 
tist church is? ” 

“ The one with the green shutters on the 
steeple? ” 

“ That’s it,” said Cap’n Mitch. “ Two doors 
this side of the church is a little old house with 
an ostrich egg sittin’ in the front window. That’s 
Doc’s place. He doesn’t get around much and 
he’s tickled to death to have people come to see 
his ships. Why, no, I dunno as it’s too early to 
go this mornin’, though mebbe Doc would be 
brighter if you looked in on him some after- 
noon.” 

Glancing beyond Cap’n Mitch, Rosamond saw 
Mr. Armes step out of the farther door of the 
post-office. She drew a long breath. 

“ Thank you ever so much, Cap’n Mitch. We 
will go, but perhaps we’d better wait till later in 
the day.” 

“Just as well,” said Cap’n Mitch, and he 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 255 

turned to go into tlie post-office without even 
seeing Mr. Armes by the more distant door. 

“ I thank you, Rosamond,” said Mr. Armes, 
getting into his seat and immediately starting 
the engine. He looked pale and stern, but there 
was a singular light in his eyes, almost of satis- 
fied triumph. He did not speak again until he 
had brought the car out on the beach road, where 
fog hid the rollers heard dully growling at a 
distance. Then he stopped the machine. 

“ I am obliged to go into town,” he said, turn- 
ing to Oliver. “ Would you and your sister 
rather wait here at Sandy Beach for me? There 
is the reading-room at the boat-club.” 

“Wherever this car goes, I am going,” said 
Oliver sternly. 

Mr. Armes looked at him a second, and then, 
to Oliver’s great indignation, burst out laughing. 
“ So you think I mean to steal it? ” he asked. 
“ Oh, Oliver, boy, how young you are ! ” 

In spite of himself, Oliver felt his suspicions 
looking foolish in the light of this gay remark. 
He tried to think of a crushing retort, could not, 
and remained silent. Mr. Armes glanced at 
Rosamond. 

6i This morning you have done a service far 


256 RAINBOW ISLAND 

greater than you knew, little girl,” he said 
gently. “ Later on, I will tell you what it was. 
Now, we will go to town.” 

In the tonneau, Oliver sulked the entire way. 
He was angry because he did not know what was 
going on, resentful because, in spite of appear- 
ances, he could not help liking John Armes, and 
indignant because, for the hundredth time, his 
distressing lack of years had been rubbed into 
him, while down at the bottom was a feeling of 
regret that he had not prevented Rosamond from 
detaining Cap’n Mitch. 

Arrived in town, they passed the automobile 
shop, where by all rights Mr. Armes should have 
stopped for his new tire, and went to the City 
Hall. 

“ I have an errand here,” he announced, and 
ran up the steps without suggesting that they 
accompany him. 

Rosamond looked at her brother. “Do you 
know why he wanted me to stop Cap’n Mitch? ” 
she asked. 

“For no good reason,” said Oliver shortly. 
“I have had enough of all this. I saw things 
on Rainbow last night, and the minute I get 
back to Mishannock I am going to tell Cap’n 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 257 

Mitch the whole story and have Armes ar- 
rested.” 

“What happened on Rainbow?” asked Rosa- 
mond. 

Oliver told her in short indignant sentences, 
concluding his tale just as Mr. Armes returned. 
He came down the steps in close conversation 
with a keen-eyed man in a khaki uniform, whom 
Oliver included in a disapproving glare. 

This time they really did go to the garage to 
buy two new tires, which Oliver gloomily suf- 
fered to be placed in the bottom of the tonneau. 
Half-way back to Sandy Beach, Mr. Armes again 
stopped the car. 

“ Don’t you want to drive, Oliver? ” he asked, 
looking back. “ My errands are done, and well 
done, too. There is no reason why you should 
not take the wheel if you like.” 

“ No, thanks,” was the stiff reply. 

Mr. Armes smiled at Rosamond, who smiled 
back, struck with the fact that he looked so much 
less anxious and more happy than when they 
were driving to town. Then he looked at Oliver 
laughingly. 

" Out with it,” he said teasingly. “ You sus- 
pect me of being a spy, don’t you? ” 


258 RAINBOW ISLAND 

Oliver, utterly taken by surprise, yet managed 
to retain some self-control. 

“ I do,” he blurted. 

“Any thing else? ” inquired Mr. Armes in the 
same nonchalant manner. 

“ Yes. You are not an American, and I think 
you exchanged signals with that submarine.” 

Eosamond looked in horror, first at her brother, 
and then at Mr. Armes, whose face had not 
changed its expression of whimsical amuse- 
ment. 

“What do you mean by a spy, Oliver?” he 
asked. 

“A man who is prying around, collecting infor- 
mation to sell to the enemy.” 

The amused smile on Mr. Armes’s lips lessened 
a little. “ I am not an American, Oliver,” he 
said gravely, “ but I am not a spy. In a day or 
two, possibly to-morrow, I hope to convince you 
of that. Eosamond, did you think me one? ” 

“ I knew you were not,” said Eosamond 
stoutly. “ I said so every time.” 

“Thank you, little girl. I am glad you be- 
lieved in me. What is my country? One that 
holds yours very dear. I am proud to say I am 
of France.” 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 259 

“ But you speak English perfectly!” exclaimed 
the astonished Rosamond. 

“ My mother was an American girl,” said Mr. 
Amies quietly. “ I was educated in Switzerland 
and England and have often visited the United 
States. When the war began, my skill as a 
chemist made me more valuable in the laboratory 
than at the front, so I never had a chance to get 
to the firing-line. When your country entered 
the war, I was sent over here at the request of 
your government to superintend some important 
war work in chemistry. Unluckily, I was the 
victim of an explosion, hence my exile to Mis- 
hannock. But I shall not be here very long now, 
because I am nearly well again.” 

“Are you going back to the government work?” 
asked Rosamond eagerly. Oliver, behind the 
two, was listening with ears and eyes wide open. 

Mr. Armes shook his head. “ Somebody was 
sent to take my place, and I am permitted to re- 
turn to the France I love, to serve in my own 
country.” 

“ Then we shall never see you again? ” Rosa- 
mond asked soberly. 

“ I’ll tell you a secret,” said Mr. Armes gayly, 
“ one that I hadn’t meant to tell any one just 


26 o 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


yet. I have taken wliat you call an option on 
Rainbow Island ; that is, secured the privilege of 
buying it if I wish, before any one else may do 
so. When the war is over, if all goes as I hope, 
I shall come back some summer and live in the 
house that you say wants so much to be made 
happy. I have consulted a friend, an engineer, 
who says that my plan for carrying over the town 
water is possible. So some day, I shall come 
back to Mishannock.” 

“ I shall visit you very often on Rainbow,” 
said Rosamond happily, “ because I love that 
house. You will give it a great many roses, 
won’t you? I know it likes them. How funny 
that you are going to buy it, because Angel says 
she is going to buy that old cottage on the road 
from Trafton, out in the meadow with the lovely 
view. I wish they were closer together, because 
I shall want to be with you both.” 

“ Perhaps Miss Angelica will consent to stay 
in Mishannock,” said Mr. Armes, smiling a little. 

“ Perhaps,” Rosamond agreed. “You know 
she is going to France to help? ” 

“ So she told me. I hope to see her in Paris. 
But we must not sit here in the road. Oliver, 
don’t you really wish to drive? ” 


OLIVER SPEAKS HIS MIND 261 


“No,” said Oliver again, though much less 
pugnaciously. “ Mr. Armes, I haven’t wanted to 
think you a spy, because you don’t seem that sort, 
but I found out that something queer was going 
on at Mishannock with you mixed up in it, 
and ” 

Mr. Armes waved his hand with a graceful, 
foreign gesture. 

“I respect you, Oliver, for standing up for 
your convictions, and you needn’t give in one 
minute before you are convinced. Just suspend 
judgment for a day or so, and until then, let us 
live peaceably with each other. If you are will- 
ing to drive, I really should like to exchange 
places for the rest of the way.” 

As he spoke, he stepped out of the car, and 
without a word, Oliver climbed over into the 
vacated seat. 


CHAPTER XX 


IN WHICH SOMEBODY IS SURPRISED 

By mutual consent, Angelica heard from 
Oliver and Rosamond that noon as much of the 
story as either yet knew, and they were flattered 
by her interested attention. 

“ Ollie, you might have known Mr. Armes 
wasn’t a spy,” she said when the tale was told. 

“ I don’t yet know/’ retorted Oliver. “ I have 
only his word for it.” 

Angelica looked at Rosamond, who smiled 
back. What use to mention to this lordly male 
that guide, be it instinct or intuition, which only 
women possess? 

“ I knew that Mr. Armes was born in France,” 
Angelica went on. “He told me so, and also 
something of his work and of his home.” 

“Why, when did you talk with him, Cousin 
Angel? ” asked Rosamond in surprise. 

“Oh, we have conversed whenever we hap- 
pened to meet,” said Angelica rather evasively. 

262 


SOMEBODY IS SURPRISED 263 

“ Mishannock isn’t so big that you can avoid 
meeting the same people rather often. Do you 
still think, Oliver, that he was signalling from 
the house on Kainbow? ” 

“ What else can I think ? 99 asked Oliver. “ I 
don’t know who it could have been, if it wasn’t 
he, though there certainly was a third person on 
the island. I know that Mr. Armes was over 
there the first night when we saw the flashes here 
at the house, because the next day we found his 
footprints and Tony’s in the mud of the channel. 
He has done several things that need explana- 
tion, but I suppose in the end it will all come out 
right for him, and I’ll be the goat.” 

Oliver spoke bitterly and Angelica felt sorry. 
She knew how hard it had been for proud, high- 
spirited, patriotic Oliver to see others doing war 
work he was too young for, and making sacri- 
fices not permitted him because of his health. 
He had set his heart on rendering a service to his 
country over this mystery at Mishannock. Yet 
to Angelica herself it was yet mysterious, with 
no explanation fitting both the known facts and 
Oliver’s theories. 

“ I think we shall probably know in time,” she 
said, “ for from what Mr. Armes said to you both, 


264 RAINBOW ISLAND 

he must intend to explain when he can do so. 
Now, why don’t you make your picture panel of 
the old laths? That will be pleasant work for 
this gloomy afternoon.” 

Rosamond quite approved of this suggestion, 
and promptly ran for saw, hammer and foot-rule, 
while Oliver took his hands from his pockets 
and condescended to measure and cut laths to 
be carefully nailed side by side upon a board of 
the size chosen for the panel. Soon his interest 
grew, for the lovely silvery strips proved even 
prettier than Rosamond’s visionary eyes antici- 
pated. At night, the completed panel stood a 
thing of real beauty. Rosamond looked specu- 
latively at the remaining laths. 

“ Want to make another? ” asked her brother, 
contemplating their masterpiece with approval. 
Hung in place above the fire, it gleamed like some 
antique bit of old Japan. 

“I’d love to make it,” said Rosamond, “but 
you need not help me, Oliver, unless you feel just 
like it, because I want to make it for the house 
on Rainbow.” 

Oliver suddenly laughed. “For Mr. Armes, 
you mean. I’ll help you, Roger, but I hope he’ll 
explain his mystery.” 


SOMEBODY IS SURPRISED 265 

Part of the puzzle was explained in a way not 
at all anticipated by Oliver. Another foggy day 
dawned upon Mishannock, and after a late break- 
fast, he was again working with Rosamond over 
the second picture in wood, when an automobile 
rolled down the lane to the house. A strange 
man alighted from it, coming straight to the 
porch. 

“ Oliver Jarvis? ” he asked briskly. 

“ Yes,” said Oliver, laying down rule and saw. 

“ Will you please give this note to your cousin, 
Miss Newton,” said the stranger. 

When Oliver brought the letter, Angelica was 
writing in her own room. Laying down her pen, 
she opened the envelope, read its contents and 
handed it to Oliver with a look of surprise. 

“Dear Miss Newton,” it read: “I am very 
sorry to trouble you, or Oliver, either, but it is 
necessary to ask him to come to the county court- 
house on important business. The man who 
brings this will take him to town and I will bring 
him back in my car. Please do not feel troubled, 
for he is wanted but a few moments as a witness, 
and will not be long detained. 

“ Very truly, 

“ Jean Vincent d’Armes.” 

“Is that the way he spells his name?” was 
Oliver’s first comment. “ Like some foreign 


266 RAINBOW ISLAND 

muckamuck. What on earth am I to be a wit- 
ness about? ” 

“ I don’t know, but of course you must go, 
Ollie.” 

“Armes is making a big mistake if he thinks 
I’ll give any information to get him out of a fix. 
Anything I am likely to say will only make 
matters worse for him.” 

“I don’t understand at all,” said Angelica, 
looking puzzled. “ Just answer briefly whatever 
they ask, and be very sure, Ollie, to say only 
what you are absolutely certain about ; don’t tell 
what you surmise or merely suspect.” 

Oliver promised to be careful and went down 
to the waiting automobile, where the man seemed 
to expect him, for he made no comment on his 
coming and started the engine almost before 
Oliver was seated. Nor would he give any in- 
formation as to the nature of the business for 
which he was wanted. The only subject upon 
which he waxed eloquent was the merits of his 
pet make of car. 

On reaching the court-house, Oliver was im- 
mediately shown into a large room where eight or 
ten men were sitting or standing about a long 
table. Two or three were in uniform and Oliver 


SOMEBODY IS SURPRISED 267 

recognized the officer who had been with Mr. 
Armes on the preceding day. The next second 
he saw two familiar faces, that of Mr. Armes 
himself, and Cap’n Mitch. 

An elderly man with a pleasant countenance 
looked keenly at Oliver, asked his name and told 
him to sit down, while he continued talking in a 
low tone with a man at his right. Shortly he 
turned to Oliver. 

“ Through the coast-guard at Morgan Island, 
we are told that you reported some mysterious 
flashes of light which you took to be signals of 
some kind, occurring at Mishannock, about two 

in the morning of ” he referred to his notes 

for the date. “ Is that correct? ” 

“ It is,” replied Oliver with a brevity which 
would have won Angelica’s instant approval. 

“ Will you tell us in your own words what took 
place on this occasion? ” 

Oliver did so, again making the words very 
few. 

“ You say your little sister saw them also? ” 

“ I woke her so as to be sure I was not imagin- 
ing them myself.” 

“Did you ever see the signalling again?” 
asked the man. 


268 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“ Yes, sir,” Oliver admitted with due caution. 

“ When? ” 

“ Mght before last.” 

“And where were you that time? ” 

Oliver looked straight at Mr. Armes as he an- 
swered. “ On Eainbow Island, sir.” 

“ How did you happen to be there at two in 
the morning?” asked his questioner, bending 
keen eyes on Oliver. 

“ I went on purpose to see whether somebody 
was signalling to sea from the house on the 
point.” 

“Were you permitted to be there at that 
hour?” asked the man, looking somewhat 
amused. “ That is, did the rest of your family 
know you were there? ” 

“Certainly. I told my cousin I wanted to 
camp on Rainbow and she made no objection 
whatever.” 

“ Tell us please, without my asking questions, 
exactly what happened from the time you went 
over till you came back.” 

Oliver thought for a moment, and then, in a 
very straightforward, manly way, told his story. 
His narrative was so clear and simple that it 
held the attention of every man in the room, 



“ HOW DID YOU HAPPEN TO BE THERE AT TWO IN THE MORNING ? ” 

Page 268 . 














’ 


















































































SOMEBODY IS SURPRISED 269 

and won a nod of approval from the chair- 
man. 

“ Well told,” he commented at its conclusion. 
“Now for a question or two. Did you recog- 
nize the man who went into the house? ” 

“ I did not even see him. I heard his steps, 
but saw only the light in the window.” 

“ Have you any idea who he was? ” 

“ I know whom I suspect,” said Oliver after a 
second. “I suspected him right along, and I 
have as yet no reason to think it was anybody 
else.*’ 

“Do you suspect the identity of the second 
man, the one whom you indistinctly saw on the 
beach? ” 

“I can’t imagine who he was,” said Oliver 
honestly. 

“ Does any one wish to question young J arvis 
further?” asked the chairman, looking around 
the table. “No? Then I think we need not 
detain you longer. We thank you for your testi- 
mony and for the patriotic service you have 
rendered.” 

“Have you caught the spy?” asked Oliver 
bluntly, the boyishness of the question carrying 
its own apology for the interruption. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


270 

“We have caught a traitor to his country,” 
said the chairman gruffly, “ the man who did the 
signalling, and while posing as a good citizen 
was secretly taking mail, supplies, and informa- 
tion out to a German submarine. Take a look 
at him.” 

Oliver stared triumphantly at Mr. Armes, who 
returned his gaze with a queer smile. 

“ Why, you’ve the wrong man, boy,” said the 
chairman. “ Bless my soul, you didn’t think it 
was Armes, did you? Mitchell Kilmer is your 
spy, — Mike Kilmer, I suspect he really is. He’s 
the man who thinks he serves Ireland and the 
oppressed Irish by betraying the United 
States.” 

Oliver turned white. For a second the room 
fairly reeled before his eyes. He grasped the 
back of the chair from which he had risen. 
“ Cap’n Mitch ! ” he exclaimed. 

At the expression on that boyish face, the 
anguish in Oliver’s honest eyes, the real horror 
he evinced at this discovery, a dull red crept over 
Cap’n Mitch’s cheeks. For a second he looked 
abashed. 

“ Cap’n Mitch ! ” Oliver repeated. “I wouldn’t 
have believed it. I won’t now, unless he says so. 


SOMEBODY IS SURPRISED 271 

Is it true? ” he demanded, turning to Captain 
Kilmer. 

“ True enough for what they want,” said Cap’n 
Mitch, breaking the silence of the room, where 
all the men looked grave and stern, yet with each 
face showing sympathy for Oliver. It is not 
amusing to see a boy lose faith in a friend. 

For half a moment there was complete still- 
ness, and then Oliver turned to go. 

“ Let me speak to him ! ” demanded Cap’n 
Mitch, springing to his feet, though two men 
started to hold him back. “ I am fond of the 
boy and he liked me. Let me speak to him.” 

They let him take Oliver aside and talked 
among themselves of other things, though con- 
scious yet of that tragic young face. 

“ Oliver, boy,” said Cap’n Mitch, laying a hand 
on his shoulder, “ don’t you believe everything 
they’ll tell you. There’s plenty of gray in the 
world, but there’s nothin’ that’s either all black 
or all white. I’m sorry you’re mixed up in this. 
I didn’t mean you to be and I tried to keep you 
out. And Rosamond, too, I wouldn’t want to 
hurt her. Tell her to take all the laths she wants 
off the lobster cages. When you’re a man, 
Oliver, mebbe you’ll think more kindly of me. 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


272 

It was Ireland first with me, and that’s all I 
can say.” 

Oliver did not answer. Very proudly he shook 
Cap’n Mitch’s hand from his shoulder and went 
into the ante-room. John Armes, following as 
far as the door, saw him sink into a chair with 
his head on a table. 


CHAPTER XXI 


IN WHICH THERE IS SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 

Not until the next day did Oliver acknowledge 
the kindness with which Mr. Armes treated him 
after that scene in the office of the secret service 
commissioner. They drove home through the 
fog and Mr. Armes did not say one word except 
to complain of the poor gasoline, or petrol, as he 
styled it. To judge from his remarks, its quality 
was the most vital matter life held for him. 

When they reached the Jarvis garage, with 
Mishannock yet enveloped in deep mist, for the 
first time he referred to the events of the morn- 
ing. 

“ Oliver,” he said quietly, “ I am very sorry 
that this came to you as such a shock, and sorry 
that I was obliged to ask you to testify. When 
you feel that you would like to know all about 
it, I will explain everything. I know that it 
hurts to lose your friend, for Cap’n Mitch was 

kind to you. But when you forget that pain, you 
273 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


274 

will realize that you have done an important 
service for your country.” 

“I?” asked Oliver bitterly. “ What did I do? 
I didn’t even spot the right man. The credit be- 
longs to you.” 

“ I obtained the most important evidence of all 
through a clue you gave me. You did not realize 
that it was a clue, but it was very vital. Let me 
know when you feel like hearing about it.” 

Oliver grunted something and bolted into the 
fog. After a night’s rest and a dawn that broke 
serene, fogless and cloudless over a rejuvenated 
and rejoicing Mishannock, life in its turn looked 
far brighter. Breakfast over, they discovered 
Mr. Armes painting below the bathing beach. 

“We might as well go down and hear what he 
has to say,” Oliver suggested to Kosamond. 

The artist greeted both pleasantly, and looked 
searchingly at Oliver as the two approached to 
seat themselves on the rocks beside him. 

“ We have come to hear the story,” said Rosa- 
mond. “ I want to know what I did at the post- 
office to help and Oliver wants to know what clue 
he gave you.” 

“ I will tell you from the beginning,” said Mr. 
Armes. “When I first came to Mishannock, I 


SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 275 

could not sleep very well, because sometimes I 
was in pain, and also I had a good deal to think 
about. One does, you know. So I used to get 
up and wander about at night. 

“ Several times I encountered Cap’n Mitch at 
odd hours, and though I did not think it strange, 
since fishermen are dependent on the tides, I 
noticed that he became less friendly. Soon I 
discovered that others were regarding me with 
suspicion. It amused me a little, because my 
walking about was so very innocent. I enter- 
tained myself by not letting them know anything 
at all about me or my work, because they were 
so very curious to find out. 

“After a bit, I began to think there must be 
some reason why Cap’n Mitch wanted me to stay 
in my bed at night, so then I walked with a pur- 
pose. I don’t know just when it came to me 
that something was really wrong, but it was 
before your house was opened. I discovered that 
the Shark had a very powerful engine, of a type 
that is never used in any mere fisherman’s boat. 
She was capable of almost as much speed as a 
small destroyer. Did you find that out, Oliver?” 

“I knew she had a good engine,” replied 
Oliver, who was becoming greatly interested, 


276 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“ but he never let her go when I was with 
him.” 

“He didn’t at any time when he thought he 
could be seen. One afternoon I was far out in 
my sailboat, drifting lazily on a calm sea, when 
I discovered on the horizon a tiny speck career- 
ing through the water at a terrific rate of speed. 
Looking carefully through my glasses, I found it 
was Friend Shark , disporting herself in deep 
water. A while later, she jogged past me as 
lamely as any old dory. 

“Now a longshore fisherman doesn’t usually 
have such a motor. It was a point to consider 
among those I was collecting. I became in- 
terested in the affair as a puzzle to be solved. 

“ Cap’n Mitch had a big stock of goods in his 
store and made numerous trips up the coast. 
That might be perfectly legitimate trade, but he 
carried fine tobacco, some unusual kinds of 
canned fruits and quite a number of things for 
which one would not think he could find a 
market. The people who can afford such luxuries 
would naturally buy them at Sandy Beach or in 
Trafton. It was odd to find them in a tiny 
village store, and I wondered where Cap’n Mitch 
sold those choice articles. 


SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 277 

“ Before you came, lie began to think I was 
watching him and he went to the coast-guard at 
Morgan Island with a tale of his own making and 
wanted them to arrest me. They did report me 
to headquarters in Portland, much to the amuse- 
ment of the chief, who is a special friend of mine. 
Cap’n Mitch’s private opinion of me gave me a 
few moments of great joy. 

“ From what I said, the secret service thought 
the accuser himself might bear watching, so they 
gave me a sort of roving commission to keep an 
eye on Cap’n Mitch. And that was where things 
stood when you came.” 

Mr. Armes stopped to paint some rocks into 
his picture. It was fully three minutes before he 
again put down his brush and went on talking. 

“ When I first saw suspicious flashes at sea, I 
thought of the house on Rainbow as being a likely 
place for somebody to answer from, and so I 
looked it over. A light in that upper window 
could not possibly be seen except directly out on 
the open ocean; it would be invisible from any 
house on shore or from any other island. And a 
passing boat would think it a normal light in an 
ordinary house. 

“ I knew that the closet in that room was not 


278 RAINBOW ISLAND 

locked and that there was no memorandum 
scribbled on the window-sill when I went over the 
house, so when you told me about both, I realized 
that something was undoubtedly going on. I 
guessed that a lantern was shut in the closet, and 
when Rosamond found the calcium carbide, it 
only confirmed what I already thought. I don’t 
know whether Cap’n Mitch dropped the box, or 
carelessly stuck it under the porch. But it was 
the memorandum on the sill that helped me most. 
Oliver, did you spring it on me to see whether I 
would betray any previous knowledge? ” 

Oliver smiled as he answered, and his smile 
showed that all resentment was fast ebbing. 

“ I thought so. You did a good day’s work 
when you tried it. Without that memorandum 
we could never have convicted Cap’n Mitch. 
You see, even though he were actually caught 
signalling to sea, we couldn’t prove that he was 
in touch with a submarine; it would only be 
something very suspicious. And since I had al- 
ready examined the house carefully, I might not 
have gone again, nor noticed that memorandum 
by myself.” 

“ I’m crazy to know what it means,” said Rosa- 
mond eagerly. 


SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 279 

“ You were with me when I found out,” smiled 
Mr. Armes. “ It was a case where you looked 
at something and did not see it. When I studied 
that memorandum, I saw that it must refer to 
some message from sea which it was important 
the man on shore should know, and which it was 
essential that he should have correctly. That is 
why he wrote it on the sill as he stood by the 
window, not trusting his memory. 

“ It was evidently a combination that meant 
something, and I decided that it opened a lock, 
either of a safe or some important box. 

“ Beyond question Cap’n Mitch was not the 
big person in the affair ; he was only working un- 
der orders from a man higher up, and he must 
somehow get those orders. Again, it was not 
improbable that there were directions to be 
handed over to the U-boat. I concluded that 
those letters formed the combination to open a 
box in some post-office near Mishannock. 

“The next thing was to find the post-office. 
Just about that time, the first schooner was sub- 
marined and the glasses disappeared, both yours 
and mine. You will get yours again in a few 
days ; they were found with mine when the deputy 
sheriff searched Cap’n Mitch’s store.” 


280 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


“How did lie get our glasses?” demanded 
Oliver. “I can see how he could take yours 
from your room that day all Mishannock was at 
Bill Joe’s talking to those fishermen, hut how 
about ours? ” 

“ I think that Mrs. Mitch, knowing you were 
all away one day, went to your house on a pre- 
tended errand and caused the glasses to vanish. 
It wasn’t quite to the advantage of Cap’n Mitch 
to have such powerful binoculars around loose 
in Mishannock. Probably he didn’t consider it 
stealing; he only meant them to become per- 
manently mislaid. 

“All the time I had been looking for the motive 
behind this madness in a man who posed as a 
good and loyal citizen. I discovered that Cap’n 
Mitch was practically insane over the question of 
home rule for Ireland ; he could not bear to hear 
a good word spoken for England. And why, no- 
body knows, for he is not an Irishman, even by 
inheritance. Every one knew that Germany was 
trying to stir up trouble both in Ireland and over 
here, by inciting Irishmen to rise against Great 
Britain. Cap’n Mitch was so very bitter that 
we did not need to look further for the reason he 
was willing to be used as a tool in the matter. 


SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 281 


And Mrs. Mitch, — I believe she is even worse 
than he. She is quite a terrible person, that 
Mrs. Mitch.” 

Rosamond smiled at the grimace with which 
Mr. Armes spoke the name, and the little shudder 
that ended his sentence. She entirely agreed 
with his opinion. 

“When my glasses disappeared, I went to 
Portland and reported the state of affairs to my 
friend in the secret service. He lent me some 
glasses, and also a runabout so that I could make 
a tour of the neighboring towns and look at the 
post-offices. That is what we did the day you 
went with me, Rosamond. Perhaps you did not 
notice that in every store we visited, one corner 
was set aside for mail. 

“ In the combined stores and post-offices there 
were no lock-boxes; people just asked for their 
letters. Love joy had modern equipment, but 
Box 45 opened by a key, not a combination. You 
see, I took B — 45 to mean the number of the box. 

“ Of course this was just a theory which might 
not amount to anything, and it did not in any of 
the villages. But after we turned back to Mis- 
hannock, when Tony was being so impolite to all 
the dogs we passed, I had an idea. You must 


282 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


remember that idea, Rosamond, for I almost 
scraped your hat off in the hedge when it ar- 
rived. 

“ It was something I should have known from 
the beginning, that to be inconspicuous you must 
mingle with the crowd. If a person using a cer- 
tain post-office box wishes to remain unknown 
and have his letters excite no curiosity, they 
must come to a place where a large amount of 
mail is handled. Beyond doubt I was only wast- 
ing time visiting small towns ; the place to look 
was Trafton itself, or Sandy Beach, where thou- 
sands of summer people use the post-office. 

“At Trafton, Box 45 again opened with a key. 
At Sandy Beach, Box 45 opened by turning a dial 
to a certain mark and then setting a pointer. 
The rest of the memorandum read D — L, P — E. 
I walked to Box 45 as though I owned it, set the 
dial at L, the pointer at E and turned the knob. 
The box opened, but there was nothing in it ! I 
had proved my theory and found my box, but it 
yet remained to discover whether Cap hi Mitch 
used it. Had the box possessed a glass front, I 
could easily have kept watch, but it was solid 
metal, so I could not tell whether there was any- 
thing in it till it was opened. The secret service 


SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 283 

found that the box stood in the name of a man 
who occasionally summers at Sandy Beach, but 
is not there this season. I received orders to 
keep an eye on Box 45 and bring any mail found 
in it to headquarters. Again and again I opened 
it without result, but I felt sure that sooner or 
later something would be there. And when the 
submarine began to come down this way again, I 
thought that was the time to keep closest watch. 

“ The U-boat came back and I surmised that 
the signalling would begin. You have guessed 
that I was the man on the other point, Oliver? 
It was the third night I had watched and I knew 
that you were on the alert that evening.” 

“ How did you know I was watching? ” de- 
manded Oliver. 

“ Because I was already on the island when 
you came. The tide was high and I did not wish 
to have a boat around to betray my presence, so 
I went over while I could walk. I saw you go 
past the house, and from the direction you took, 
I was quite sure you were on the other point, 
though you were so very quiet that I was not 
absolutely certain. The rest you know.” 

“But about the box?” asked Rosamond. 
“Did you finally get some mail? ” 


284 RAINBOW ISLAND 

“I thought that Cap ’11 Mitch would go out 
soon after the signalling, for the Shark was al- 
ready loaded, and it was probable that he would 
go to the post-office first. So I tried to get ahead 
of him. Perhaps he didn’t crawl in the window 
of your garage and stick two nails into my tires, 
but if he didn’t, I don’t know who did. The 
nails are there. 

“ We hustled to Sandy Beach, but on the way 
we passed Cap’n Mitch and I knew that he would 
be in the post-office before I could open that box, 
and he must not catch me doing it. It was very 
important that he should be detained for a 
moment, and that Rosamond did.” 

“ Oh,” said Rosamond. “ Then I did help.” 

“ It was your help at a critical minute that 
saved the day. I opened the box, took the letters 
and rushed them straight to the secret service 
office.” 

“ Were they addressed to Cap’n Mitch? ” asked 
Oliver. 

“ Only to Box 45, Sandy Beach, but on opening 
them enough evidence was found to incriminate 
Cap’n Mitch beyond all clearing, enough, we hope, 
to net the men higher up in the matter. The de- 
partment had him arrested at once. They wanted 


SOMETHING TO REMEMBER 285 

your story, Oliver, because they felt in the matter 
of the signals it was well to have more than one 
witness. I knew that you were on the island and 
had no doubt that you saw it all.” 

“ I wish it hadn’t been Cap’n Mitch,” said Rosa- 
mond soberly. “ I never liked Mrs. Mitch, but 
I did like the captain.” 

“ In many ways he was a fine man,” said Mr. 
Armes, “but on the subject of Ireland he was 
not sane. Let us be kind and say so. It is the 
only way of accounting for such conduct in a man 
whom otherwise we can respect.” 

“ I suppose he thought it was patriotism,” said 
Oliver thoughtfully. 

“I think patriotism is very confusing,” ob- 
served Rosamond after a moment. “ Cousin 
Angel thought once that it was her patriotic duty 
to make men give women votes. Now, she says 
she was mistaken and she isn’t going to bother 
them about it until the war is won. She says 
her duty to her country is to do what she can to 
help, whether she likes it or not. I hope she 
won’t mind my saying that. She did tell me I 
wasn’t to repeat the silly things she said. What 
do you think patriotism is, Mr. Armes? ” 

“Patriotism?” murmured Mr. Armes to him- 


286 


RAINBOW ISLAND 


self. “To give and not to count tlie cost; to 
suffer and not to heed the pain ; to work patiently 
behind the scenes and not to envy the glory of 
the firing-line. Patriotism? Belgium preferring 
death to dishonor ; France with her immortal j 
‘ They shall not pass ! ’ ; England meeting every 
disaster with a grim ‘ Carry on ! ’ ; the United 
States seeing a great vision ” 

Breaking off suddenly, he turned to his com- 
panions. “ Rosamond,” he said gently, “ there is 
something for you and Oliver to remember, — you 
especially. Every woman and girl and little 
child in this beautiful country of yours must 
always remember the boys who crossed the sea 
to die, that they might keep the world a decent 
place for you to live. You must not forget” 

“ I will remember,” promised Rosamond. “TO 
never forget.” 

“No one must ever forget them,” said John 
Armes. 


THE END 


BOOKS BY EDNA A. BROWN 

Illustrated by John Goss 12mo Cloth Net, $1.50 each 

WHEN MAX CAME 

T HIS is the story of Max, who did not wish to visit his New 
England cousins, and of Hope, who did not wish him to 
come, and who was certain that she could never like a boy 
who had been brought up in Europe. The tale also introduces 
us to other attractive people, both young and grown up, and 
to a strange old hermit. The wooded hills of Maine form the 
background for a summer in which many things happened, 
both pleasant and unpleasant, after Max came. 

“ Decidedly a young 1 people’s book of the better class, being bright, interesting, 
not a whit priggish or preachy, pointing no morals, thoroughly wholesome in tone 
and capitally written .” — Evening Wisconsin . 

ARNOLD’S LITTLE BROTHER 

N OT the conventional athletic tale, 
but a lively narrative introducing us 
to small boys in the Lower school, to big 
ones in the Upper school, and to masters 
who are human beings, genuinely in- 
terested in the younger people under 
their charge. Opinions may differ as to 
whether Paul or Archer is the hero, but 
as soon as Archer enters the story, the 
“ difference” begins. 

ARCHER AND THE “ PROPHET” 

A RCHER has already appeared, at a much younger age, as 
“ Arnold's Little Brother,” and is now a senior at the same 
school, St. Stephen’s. Like the author’s previous book, it is very 
different from the usual school story, and therein lies its great 
strength. The "Prophet” is a nickname given to an outside 
boy whom good-hearted Archer befriends, and around whom 
some of the strongest scenes in the story revolve. 

“The writing of the story is above the average for “Juveniles,” every character 
drawing is convincing, and the episodes ring tru e”— Chicago Journal. 


For sale by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt 
of price by the publishers 

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Boston 





FOUR GORDONS 

By EDNA A. BROWN 

Illustrated Large 12mo Decorated Cover $1.50 net 


L OUISE and her three brothers are the ** Four 
Gordons,’ ’ and the story relates their ex- 
periences at home and school during the absence 
of their parents for a winter in Italy. There 
is plenty of fun and frolic, with skating, coast- 
ing, dancing, and a jolly Christmas visit. The 
conversation is bright and natural, the book 
presents no improbable situations, its atmos- 
phere is one of refinement, and it has the merit 
of depicting simple and wholesome comradeship 
between boys and girls. 

“ The story and its telling are worthy of Miss Al- 
cott. Young folks of both sexes will enjoy it.” — 
AT. r. Sun . 

“ It is a hearty, wholesome story of youthful life 
in which the morals are never explained but simply 
illustrated by logical results.”— Christian Register. 



UNCLE DAVID’S BOYS 


By EDNA A. BROWN 

Illustrated by John Goss 12mo Cloth 
Price $1.50 net 



T HIS tells how some young people whom cir- 
cumstances brought together in a little moun- 
tain village spent a summer vacation, full of good 
times, but with some unexpected and rather mys- 
terious occurrences. In the end, more than one 
head was required to find out exactly what was 
going on. The story is a wholesome one with a 
pleasant, well-bred atmosphere, and though it 
holds the interest, it never approaches the sensa- 
tional nor passes the bounds of the probable. 

“A story which will hold the attention of youthful 
readers from cover to cover and prove not without its 
interest for older readers .” — Evening Wisconsin. | 
“For those young people who like a lively story 
with some unmistakably old fashioned characteristics,' 
‘ Uncle David’s Boys,’ will have a strong appeal.”— 
Churchman. 


For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of 
price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



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